DRUG SWEEP HITS 11 METRO HOUSES

FBI Says Mexican Cartel Used Homes As Bases. Raids in North Fulton,
Gwinnett Net 17 Arrests, Millions in Cash, Cocaine.

The blue house, or "la azul" as the drug-runners called it, is a
nondescript ranch with a well-kept yard, like so many others lining
Cruse Road in Lawrenceville.

Federal authorities say that's exactly why the Gulf Cartel chose it.
The house was one of 11 low-key bases of operation that the powerful
Mexican drug trafficking organization used in its enterprise, police
said.

About 200 federal, state and local law enforcement officers
simultaneously raided the locations in Gwinnett and North Fulton
counties before dawn Wednesday and made 17 arrests. At least three of
the locations were single-family houses in residential
neighborhoods.

The raids were the culmination of a year-and-a-half-long investigation
the FBI dubbed "Operation Grand Finale."

Neighbors hadn't a clue about what was allegedly going on at the blue
house.

"I've never seen anyone in that house ever," said Sarah LeBaron, a
16-year-old who lives next door. "The first noise I heard from them
was this morning when there was a loud boom. I guess that's when
police arrived."

The operation hit people "at the top of the cell all the way through,"
said Greg Jones, special agent in charge of the FBI field office in
Atlanta. "I think every arrest hurts, every seizure hurts."

Authorities confiscated more than $3.6 million in cash, 800 kilograms
of cocaine worth $20 million, $5 million worth of methamphetamine and
2,000 pounds of marijuana as a result of the operation in Atlanta and
parts of Texas, Jones said.

Investigators used wiretaps, electronic surveillance and confidential
sources to track the cartel's activities, Jones said.

The smugglers transport drugs into the country over the Texas border
in tractor-trailers and small vehicles equipped with hidden
compartments, he said. The dope travels to metro Atlanta for further
distribution in Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Illinois and elsewhere.
Proceeds are shipped back to Mexico along the same route, Jones said.

On Nov. 15, intercepted phone calls led authorities to search a
tractor-trailer that departed from an Atlanta warehouse headed for
McAllen, Texas. Inside, $2 million was concealed in a load of frozen
pork products.

Another tractor-trailer bound for Atlanta from Texas was intercepted
on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 20 on Dec. 10. Its load of
cabbage hid about 145 pounds of methamphetamine and 391 kilograms of
cocaine, according to the federal indictments unsealed on Wednesday.

Jones said the suspects were caught off-guard by the latest raids.
They did not offer resistance, although 20 high-powered assault
weapons were seized at the locations.

The suspects are believed to have been responsible for at least one
shooting that occurred in Gwinnett last fall, said Jones. Details
about the shooting were not made available to reporters Wednesday.

Gwinnett County Sheriff Butch Conway, whose deputies participated in
the operation, said he was concerned cartels are becoming better armed
and may start fighting back.

"I just want to see these people out of our community," Conway said.