RAIDS TARGET MEXICO DRUG RING, YIELD 7 ARRESTS, $12 MILLION IN
NARCOTICS

Seven drug-smuggling suspects were arrested and about $12 million
worth of narcotics was seized in Arizona as part of a nationwide
crackdown aimed at a Mexican smuggling cartel that crisscrossed the
sand dunes near Yuma and built a submerged bridge across the Colorado
River to avoid law enforcement.

Ramona Sanchez, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman in
Phoenix, said seizures in the Yuma area included 28,000 pounds of
marijuana, 93 pounds of cocaine, 4 pounds of methamphetamine and
about 2 pounds of heroin.

"We got that much dope off the streets, and more importantly we
disrupted the organization," Sanchez added. "They're out that much
money, and it really does cripple them." advertisement

The enforcement in Arizona was tied to a nationwide campaign known as
Operation Imperial Emperor, directed against a cartel headed by
Victor Emilio Cazares-Gastellum, identified by the Justice Department
as an international drug kingpin.

All told, there have been more than 400 arrests, including 66 that
occurred Wednesday in four states.

In Yuma County, authorities launched a pair of investigations
beginning in December 2005. One of those, dubbed Operation Cut
Throat, targeted a cell that used motorcycles and dune buggies to
cross the border through the Imperial Dunes area, mixing in with
recreational riders.

The other sting, Operation River Warriors, focused on a group that
built sandbag bridges beneath the surface of the Colorado River so
that off-road vehicles could cross.

Investigators merged the probes after discovering they were dealing
with a single cartel that also moved giant marijuana loads through
border checkpoints in vehicles with hidden compartments.

Sanchez said the list of Arizona suspects includes two leaders of the
River Warriors group who remain at large: a man, 33, and a man age
unknown. Both men have criminal histories, and are believed to be in Mexico.

Forty investigators took part in Wednesday's raids in the Yuma area.

When it was over, Timothy J. Landrum, the DEA's special agent in
charge, said, "Arizona citizens are now safer as this organization
lies in a shambles."

According to the Justice Department, the national crackdown netted
$45 million in cash, 18 tons of narcotics and $6 million in assets.
Indictments were unsealed in Arizona, California and Illinois.
Defendants are charged with conspiracy, drug trafficking and other crimes.

In court papers, the Justice Department said Cazares-Gastellum's
organization transported drugs from Colombia and Venezuela through
Central America to Mexico by land, air and sea. The narcotics were
then funneled into the United States, mostly via the Yuma area,
before reaching transnational shipment points in Phoenix and Los Angeles.

More than 100 federal, state, local and foreign investigators took
part in the task force. While the government has conducted successful
drug-war crackdowns in the past, federal authorities were almost
giddy about the success of Operation Imperial Emperor. In the words
of DEA administrator Karen Tandy, "We ripped out this empire's U.S.
infrastructure . . . and tossed it into the dustbin of history."