ARMY OF COPS SWEEPS INTO TIJUANA

TIJUANA -- Mexican federal police swept through Tijuana yesterday in a show
of force that came one month after President Vicente Fox vowed his
government would "eradicate crime" in the violence-plagued city.

The police action signaled a new effort by the Mexican government to crack
down on the Arellano Felix drug cartel, which operates out of Tijuana where
it has easy access to the U.S. drug market.

But after a day of patrolling posh hillside neighborhoods and stopping cars
on busy boulevards to search for weapons and drugs, yesterday's effort by
700 heavily armed federal police also underscored how difficult the search
for the Arellanos has become.

No concrete results were announced. No arrests were made. And Mexican law
enforcement officials even suggested the drug traffickers may have fled
across the border and checked into San Diego hotels.

Still, authorities said this new police offensive is a clear sign Fox
intends to keep his promise to increase pressure on Mexican drug
traffickers and to try to bring peace to Tijuana in six months.

The action came after a Thursday night ruling by Mexico's Supreme Court
that cleared the way for Arturo Paez, a 34-year-old Tijuana native
suspected of being a top lieutenant in the Arellano cartel, to be
extradited to San Diego. Paez, known in the criminal underworld as "El
Kitty," is charged in a federal indictment with smuggling more than 2,200
pounds of cocaine into the United States.

U.S. law enforcement officials in offices stretching from San Diego to the
nation's capital praised the decision as a "positive step" in binational
efforts to fight drug trafficking organizations.

"It has multiple effects in the political world, in the legal world, in the
minds of drug traffickers, in the minds of U.S. law enforcement," said
Gonzalo Curiel, chief of the narcotics enforcement section with the U.S.
Attorney's Office in San Diego. "The importance of this decision can't be
overstated."

Despite these efforts, U.S. law enforcement officials say there's no
guarantee the federal police massed in Tijuana will be able to capture the
Arellanos. And there's no guarantee Paez, who has the right to appeal, will
be extradited to San Diego anytime soon.

"We're waiting to see if an extradition takes place," said one DEA
official. "We're not suggesting anything sinister, we're just waiting to
see what is going to happen."

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border have spent years
trying to capture the Arellanos, who are known for the brutality of their
crimes. The cartel leaders are suspected in the slaying of a Roman Catholic
cardinal and the assassination of a top Mexican law enforcement official.
They also rank among the top cocaine shippers in North America. Yet only
one brother -- who by all accounts was a minor player in the drug business
- -- has been arrested.

"I don't think we're prepared to have a celebration party and call off the
dogs," said Curiel.

The stepped-up efforts by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement seem to have
changed the Arellanos' method of operation. They no longer are freewheeling
figures in Tijuana.

"More and more they are working underground," Curiel said. "I don't hear
that much about them being out and about. They're not as visible as they
used to be."

But, he added, no one is counting the Arellanos out.

"There's no question that they're still around."

The federal police drove into Tijuana at twilight Thursday in an impressive
caravan that had traveled from the city of Tecate.

Yesterday morning, the truckloads of young cops, dressed in the distinctive
gray uniforms of the Federal Preventive Police, drew stares as they
patrolled neighborhoods across Tijuana.

Residents who were searched offered few complaints.

On Calle Brasil, in the well-to-do-neighborhood of Colonia Cacho, a
58-year-old construction worker applauded when his car was searched.

"I hope these operations continue," said Macario Torres, after being
ordered out of his car. "We want the violence to end and to be able to live
in peace."

Baja state officials also praised the federal police operation.

"The presence of these troops guarantees that there will no longer be so
much impunity, that they (criminals) can no longer go around every night
conducting business as they are accustomed to doing," said Jorge Ramos,
Baja California's secretary general and second-highest ranking official.

The sweep through Tijuana followed a similar operation earlier this week in
Sinaloa, a state so rife with drug trafficking that some law enforcement
officials compare it with Colombia.

The police action there, involving at least 500 officers, represented the
first phase of the government's National Pilot Program Against Organized Crime.

Fox's aggressive stance toward drug traffickers and his government's new
willingness to extradite alleged cartel leaders to the United States
represents a change of attitude, said Jorge Chabat, a Mexico City
university professor who specializes in international drug trafficking.

"I think Fox has the willingness to do this. I'm just not sure he has the
capacity to do it," Chabat said. "It is a matter of money, of human
resources, of resistance to corruption, and of strengthening institutions."

By challenging drug traffickers, Fox is pitting his government against one
of Mexico's toughest adversaries. He is expected to visit Tijuana later
this month to discuss the city's crime problem.

"The drug trafficker is a very dangerous enemy. He is very powerful. He
corrupts," Chabat said. "This is not Fox's problem. It is a problem of the
Mexican state, and it will take years to correct."

Copley News Service Washington correspondent Joe Cantlupe contributed to
this report. S. Lynne Walker reported from Mexico City.