Anonymous - 6-21-2005 at 02:33 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050621-1...
By Gregory Alan Gross
June 21, 2005
TIJUANA ? A government crackdown on organized crime has motorists being stopped and questioned at checkpoints manned by heavily armed Mexican soldiers
and federal police.
Meanwhile, Mexican federal agents are raiding drug houses in Tijuana and other border cities, seizing quantities of marijuana, heroin and
methamphetamine. In all, more than a half-million doses of illegal drugs have been reported seized.
It's part of Operativo Mexico Seguro, Operation Safe Mexico, President Vicente Fox's response to a wave of violence on the streets of Mexican border
cities. The operation was announced in Mexico City on June 11.
As of Tuesday, 330 people had been arrested in Baja California for a variety of offenses, officials said. Among them were 10 foreigners, including a
Syrian and two Afghans picked up in a Tijuana hotel on unspecified charges.
Federal police units and army troops, in conjunction with state and local law enforcement, had set up checkpoints at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa
border crossings, as well as the airport, the central bus terminal and thoroughfares throughout the city, within hours of being flown in from the
Mexican capital.
The beefed-up border checks also were credited with the seizure last week of more than $1 million hidden inside the seats of a van bearing California
license plates. Two people, an American and a Mexican, were arrested.
Other units raided bars and hotels, as well as drug houses where methamphetamine was being sold, government spokesmen said. The checkpoints also have
turned up several cars reported stolen in the United States, they said.
The officials who announced Mexico Seguro never specifically mentioned drug trafficking, referring only to "organized crime."
However, the operation is centered in the Mexican border states of Baja California and Tamaulipas, as well as Sinaloa state, on the Pacific coast, and
all three regions are bases for rival cartels believed by U.S. and Mexican authorities to be waging a bloody war for control of the lucrative
narcotics trade.
Violence attributed to those clashes has left hundreds of people dead. Tijuana alone has recorded more than 200 murders so far this year, compared
with 21 in neighboring San Diego.
JESSE - 6-21-2005 at 03:55 PM
The other day it took only 13 special forces soldiers to capture the brother of Chapo Guzman, Mexicos most dangerous drug lord, they arrested him in a
restaurant in a party, not one single shot was fired, wich goes to show you, its better to have 13 good cops looking for drug lords, than 1000 corrupt
idiots pretending to be looking for them.
Cincodemayo - 6-21-2005 at 05:14 PM
Dirty Harry woulda done it alone....
Make my Day
Bruce R Leech - 6-21-2005 at 05:57 PM
jrbaja - 6-21-2005 at 06:41 PM
Cincodemayo - 6-22-2005 at 11:58 AM
Thanks for the pic Bruce!