WASHINGTON — Federal agents have rounded up more than 750 suspects in a wide-ranging crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating inside the United States.
More than 50 of the suspects were arrested overnight in a series of raids coordinated by the Drug Enforcement Administration aimed at capturing members of the Sinaloa cartel, blamed for a rising tide of violence in Mexico and the United States.
Another 700 suspects were arrested previously over the course of the DEA’s 21-month Operation Xcellerator, officials said.
Attorney General Eric Holder said the cartels “are lucrative, they are violent, and they are operated with stunning planning and precision.”
DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart said the raid showed the tentacles of the crime syndicate had spread far across the U.S. — not just to major cities like Washington and Los Angeles, but to quiet, smaller communities like Stowe, Iowa, which the cartel allegedly used as a conduit to funnel drugs around the country.
He said the cartel has become one of the largest organized crime operations in the world.
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