Operation Coronado Strikes Blow Against Mexican Narcotics Trafficking Network in United States

Mexico City | October 22, 2009

A joint law enforcement operation conducted over the past two days across the United States resulted in the arrests of 303 individuals, many of them associated with the Mexican drug trafficking organization “La Familia Michoacana.” This investigation relied heavily on coordination between the Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and state and local law enforcement authorities, and was supported by information and cooperation from Mexican authorities. Enforcement actions over the past two days resulted in the seizure of 62 kilograms of cocaine, 729 pounds of methamphetamine, 967 pounds of marijuana, as well as numerous firearms, vehicles, and properties used in the commission of crimes in the United States.

This action, code-named Operation Coronado, has once again demonstrated that although the reach of criminal drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) has become transnational, working in cooperation with our Mexican counterparts we can start to disrupt and dismantle their operations in the United States just as the Calderon administration has been doing in Mexico. As the DTOs adapt their operations to exploit legitimate financial networks and criminal gangs in the U.S., unprecedented cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement and regulatory agencies is helping to disrupt and dismantle their “business model.”

As we expand our cooperation and capabilities, through capacity building and information sharing under the Merida Initiative and beyond, we demonstrate that the forces of order can be as creative and flexible in stopping these transnational cartels as the criminals are ruthless and innovative in their attempts to infiltrate their foul wares into our communities.

For more information on Operation Coronado go to:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-ag-1135.html AND http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/pressrel/pr102209a.html