wmlro.com: US authorities round up 300 suspects in La Familia drug cartel case
Project Coronado is a large and complex operation that, so far, has lasted 44 months. In that time, 1,186 people have been arrested, more than 2,700 lbs of methamphetamine, approx 16,000 lbs of marijuana, almost 2,000 kilos of cocaine have been seized - along with more than USD32 million in cash. But, even in such a large operation, just two days this week have proved spectacularly successful.
3000 law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies raided premises right across the UK. They found almost 400 weapons, almost 730 lbs of amphets, USD3.4 million in cash and other drugs and arms.
The DoJ says that La Familia is " the newest and most violent of the five Mexican drug cartels" given to "a depravity of violence that far exceeds what we have, unfortunately, become accustomed to from other cartels."
It is, says DoJ, La Familia which has been at the centre of the widespread violence against law enforcement targets in Mexico in recent months, leaving dozens of police and other officers dead.
The scale of the activities of La Familia and their violence has turned the disruption and capture of the gang into a major priority, considered a matter of national security.
Raids were conducted in 19 states and more raids were under way as the DoJ issued its statement.
The cartel is based in the state of Michoacán, in southwestern Mexico. Much of their violence has been in Mexico's northern border towns where they have sought to establish smuggling networks.
According to one indictment unsealed in the Southern District of New York, associates of La Familia based in the United States have allegedly acquired military-grade weapons, including assault weapons and ammunition, and have arranged for them to be smuggled back into Mexico for use by La Familia. In a criminal complaint filed in Dallas, ATF investigators allege that operatives of La Familia shipped hundreds of firearms from the U.S. to Mexico over a 12-month period ending in October 2009.
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