U.S. authorities arrested 617 people during a weeklong, worldwide operation targeting the Sinaloa drug cartel, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said Monday.
According to the DEA news release, from Aug. 25 to 29, agents in 23 domestic field offices and seven foreign regions carried out coordinated enforcement actions against the cartel.
The locations of the arrests were not disclosed. The DEA said tens of thousands of Sinaloa cartel members, associates, and facilitators operate in at least 40 countries.
“This coordinated action was a combination of DEA’s increased focus on enforcement, intelligence, and domestic and international collaboration, utilizing every resource in DEA’s arsenal to degrade the Sinaloa Cartel’s command and control,” DEA said.
According to the DEA, the operation resulted in the seizure of 480 kilograms of fentanyl powder, 714,000 counterfeit pills, 2,209 kilograms of methamphetamine, 7,469 kilograms of cocaine, 16.5 kilograms of heroin, $12.8 million in assets, and 420 firearms.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole called the arrests part of an ongoing effort to dismantle the cartel. “Every kilogram of poison seized, every dollar stripped from the cartels, and every arrest we make represents lives saved and communities defended,” he said.
The operation comes months after President Donald Trump designated eight cartels, including Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, as foreign terrorist organizations.
In August, Sinaloa co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García pleaded guilty to trafficking and money laundering charges, and Mexico transferred 26 senior cartel figures to U.S. custody.
