The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported last week that it had arrested 617 members of the Sinaloa cartel in a global operation.
The week-long operation aimed to dismantle the Sinaloa cartel, which has been flooding the United States with fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin, the DEA said in a statement.
In addition to the 617 arrests, the DEA seized narcotics, including 480 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 714,707 counterfeit pills, 2,209 kilograms of methamphetamine, 7,469 kilograms of cocaine, and 16.55 kilograms of heroin.
As Alicia Márquez reports below for The Epoch Times, the DEA also seized more than $11 million in currency, over $1.6 million worth of assets, and 420 firearms.
“These results demonstrate the DEA’s unwavering commitment to protecting the American people,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said.
“Every kilogram of poison seized, every dollar confiscated from the cartels, and every arrest we make represents lives saved and communities defended.”
“The DEA will not rest until the Sinaloa Cartel is completely dismantled,” he added.
The operation was carried out by DEA agents in 23 domestic field divisions and seven foreign regions from Aug. 25 to 29.
“There are tens of thousands of Sinaloa members, associates, and facilitators operating worldwide in at least 40 countries who are responsible for the production, manufacture, distribution, and operations related to the trafficking of dangerous and deadly synthetic drugs,” according to the statement.
“This coordinated action was a combination of the DEA’s increased focus on law enforcement, intelligence, and national and international collaboration, using all resources at its disposal to degrade the Sinaloa Cartel’s command and control.”
In February, the Trump administration, through the State Department, designated the Sinaloa cartel a Foreign Terrorist Organization, along with seven other Mexican and Latin American organizations.
Mexican Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch dismissed the idea that the Sinaloa cartel is finished.
“No, no, the Sinaloa Cartel has never had a leader as such, that is, there have always been several leaders,” Harfuch said at an Aug. 27 press conference.
Harfuch also spoke about the structure of the Sinaloa organization.
“It is a cartel that has, let’s say, several branches. One of them was Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, another was ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, then El Chapo’s sons, El Guano, who is also El Chapo’s brother, and another, ‘El Chapo Isidro,’” Harfuch said, following Ismael Zambada García’s guilty plea in the United States.
On Aug. 25, Zambada, co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, pleaded guilty in a New York federal court to two counts of drug trafficking, money laundering, and use of weapons, after more than five decades of criminal activity.
Zambada admitted to participating in a drug trafficking operation that for years brought large quantities of illicit substances, including cocaine and heroin, into the United States.
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