DEA seeks tips on drug traffickers Sinaloa cartel said to dominate the region
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Sandra Dibble
"With the Sinaloa drug cartel acknowledged as a dominant presence along the San Diego-Baja California border, U.S. agencies have launched a renewed
push for information about drug trafficking groups operating smuggling routes in the region.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration granted a rare interview as it collaborates with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in a public effort aimed
at gathering information about the new dynamics of the region's drug trade. A poster published in English and Spanish promotes new tiplines, and
offers rewards for information related to drug trafficking groups in southern California and northern Baja California.
While "smuggling efforts have changed a lot" in recent years, the San Diego border "has always been a gem, and will and will always be a gem for drug
traffickers to bring drugs into the United States," said Gary Hill, assistant special agent in charge of the DEA's San Diego office.
Authorities on both sides of the border have said that the weakening of the long-dominant Arellano Felix organization that culminated in a bloody 2008
split, opened the way for the powerful Sinaloa group to move in. The new poster names six suspected traffickers, five of them linked to Sinaloa,
though Fernando Sánchez Arellano, a nephew of the Arellano group's former leaders, is also pictured.
"The new narrative is that the Sinaloa cartel is much more powerful in Tijuana than the remnants of the AFO," said Nathan Jones, a drug policy fellow
at Rice University's Baker Institute.
Among those named is Alfonzo Arzate García "El Aquiles," described as a onetime Arellano member. After splitting from the group, Arzate became
"heavily involved with assassinations and hit squads," Hill said, though he now is more focused on distribution. Today, "we see him as a very
significant leader in Baja under the greater umbrella of the Sinaloa cartel," Hill said.
Hill oversees the San Diego Major Traffickers Task Force, an interagency group that includes DEA and the FBI, as well as the Border Patrol, Homeland
Security Investigations, San Diego Sheriff's Department, Chula Vista Police, and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
It is not only the dynamics of drug trafficking groups that have changed; so have the forms of smuggling. "You don't see the large truckloads going
back ten, 15, 20 years ago when you'd see guys with a couple of tons in a load," Hill said. "There seem to be smaller-scale organizations or smuggling
groups that are falling under the protection of the greater Sinaloa cartel."
The makeup of the illicit merchandise has also been changing. Since fiscal 2011, seizures of cocaine, heroin and methamphetanine have increased at
ports of entry in San Diego, while marijuana seizures have dropped significantly, according to U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. The agency
reports that close to 75 percent of methamphetamine seizures on the U.S.-Mexico border take place at the San Ysidro port of entry, often found on
juvenile smugglers who carry packages on their bodies.
Drug traffickers "are very creative," Hill said. "We're seeing everything that's possible, from sophisticated tunnels to aircraft. We're seeing
pleasure craft holding tons of drugs, we're seeing it in commercial vehicles, we're seeing it on bodies, shoved into pants."
With so many possible routes, and large populations in southern California, Hill said the region remains a coveted corridor, Hill said. "This has
always been a great place for drug trafficking."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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