What began as an ordinary traffic stop in Tempe instead turned into a 15-month drug trafficking investigation and the arrest of 203 suspects linked to the notorious Sinaloa cartel.
But after seizing $7.8 million in cash and $12 million worth of drugs, police said on Tuesday that they’re not done. The suspects arrested have ties to cartel operations in several other states including Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Missouri and Kansas.
The massive drug case began with a patrol officer in Tempe who pulled over a known drug user at McClintock Drive and Elliot Road. The officer quickly realized there was more than what would have otherwise been a $100 meth deal, Tempe police said.
“It got us into some things where we really didn’t anticipate the level of activity within our county,” Tempe police Chief Tom Ryff said.
Narcotics detectives quickly figured out the Drug Enforcement Agency was investigating the cartel, and the agencies began working together on what they dubbed Operation Crank Call.
Police have been arresting suspects during the entire investigation and said more arrests will come even if they aren’t announced. So far, the case turned up 650 pounds of marijuana, 123 pounds of cocaine, 4.5 pounds of heroin and 435 pounds of meth.
Ryff said the operation exacted a lot of pain on the cartel but that it will take time to learn just how much they’ve slowed the organization’s ability to move drugs.
Sinoloa is Mexico’s largest cartel with ties in every U.S. state, officials said. They said the cartel’s strongest U.S. operation is in Arizona.
One man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Others face 3 to 10 years in prison for charges ranging from possessing paraphernalia to having several pounds of drugs.
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said this is the fourth major drug bust in the state since he took his post a year ago. The largest one resulted in 76 arrests. That seemed like a massive operation, Horne said, until now.
“It’s frankly an obscene amount of drugs and money,” he said. “Those numbers reflect the horrific scope of the drug trafficking problem in our community.”
Horne used the Tuesday announcement to call on the federal government to bolster security along the border with Mexico. While federal officials have touted a drop in the number of illegal immigrants being apprehended, Horne said there hasn’t been a similar decrease in drug activity.
Horne said the border is more dangerous than ever. The number of people apprehended who have serious criminal records has gone from about 8 percent to 17 percent in five years, he said.
Arizona is also fighting drug use by working on the demand side, Horne said. He appealed to potential users to consider that drug money has fueled violence that included a beheading in Chandler.
“One of the ironic things is that young people in this country will not buy tuna fish unless it’s caught in nets that save the porpoises,” Horne said. “They have to realize that (when) they buy drugs, this money is going to cartels that engage in all kinds of very vicious crimes, not just selling drugs, but beheadings and kidnappings and mutilating people and murdering people.”
Tempe Cmdr. Kim Hale said police wouldn’t release many details about the operation to avoid tipping off the cartel. But he called it the largest drug bust in Tempe.
“When you put it all together, it’s been one hell of a case,” Hale said.
Contact writer: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com
local mesagirl posted at 2:05 pm on Mon, Dec 26, 2011.
I agree. instead of wasting all this time and money just to catch petty users and small time dealers, why not go to where the problem starts. IMMIGRATION!! They should hang out on the streets in Mesa, it's more than obvious from there where the problem liies and it has nothing to do withthe petty people that have been stopped so far!!
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:47 pm on Wed, Dec 21, 2011.
Dale: Perhaps you can also explain why this article isn't also viewable in the "Immigration" tab. I find it odd that they have two stories about in the "Immigration" tab about the redistricting of legislative maps. That has no direct link with Immigration per se. Perhaps because the word "Hispanic" is in the article?
However, the about article SCREAMS "Immigration" with just part of one sentence: "and the arrest of 203 suspects linked to the notorious Sinaloa cartel." Last I checked, the Sinaloa cartel hails from south of the border. Or perhaps I'm being unreasonable again.... [beam]
Masterrogue666 posted at 7:30 pm on Wed, Dec 21, 2011.
Dale: Actually, if you are so up on things, then perhaps you can explain to me how can an ILLEGAL ALIEN be deported from Colorado can be back smuggling into AZ WITHIN ONE WEEKS TIME, and call the border "secure".
Want some interesting reading?:
http://mcso.org/MultiMedia/PressRelease/Two%20smugglers%20apprehended.pdf
The border isn't secure, I'm not going to argue semantics that it's "more secure" than it has been. The fact is that CRIMINALS still cross in droves, AT THEIR LEISURE.
And since Obama's removing more manpower from guarding the border (withdrawing about 3/4 of the National Guard he had put in place), then perhaps you can explain how that's making the border more secure?
MY POINT was that SB1070 is a vital tool that can assist local police (The law enforcement agents that USUALLY come in contact with ILLEGAL ALIENS FIRST!) in the flood of criminals that cross our UNSECURE BORDER. No matter how secure we make the border, some CRIMINALS will still be able to make it across. So, laws are needed to deal with those MILLIONS OF CRIMINALS that have made it. Of course, most reasonable people would have understood that with my second comment. [beam]
Dale Whiting posted at 10:02 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
My oh my, aren't you boys good a jumpting to illogical conclusions!
666 observes that somehow Federal policy has made us less safe now than we were 4 or 5 years ago. Apparently 666 draws this conclusion for Horne. "Horne used the Tuesday announcement to call on the federal government to bolster security along the border with Mexico. While federal officials have touted a drop in the number of illegal immigrants being apprehended, Horne said there hasn’t been a similar decrease in drug activity." Even Horne does not question that the federals have improved border security. He just calls for more.
Tempe Police cooperated with DEA's on going investigation. "Narcotics detectives quickly figured out the Drug Enforcement Agency was investigating the cartel, and the agencies began working together on what they dubbed Operation Crank Call."
With this successful example of DEA working with local police, and not one mention of any of those being arrested being an illegal alien, how can 666 draw the conclusion that SB1070 is needed? He can't draw that conclusion reasonably from the facts stated in this piece. But then, who claims 666 is reasonable?
In a parallel report we read that National Guard forces now on the border are being sent home [austensibly because they are not needed] and will be replaced by helicopters using radar to track border crossers more effectively.
As usual, Leon is even worse. He concludes that President Obama is a traitor for shrinking from his duty. No mention that Obama has done more during the past 3 years than Bush did during any similar period of his administration. Are we to conclude that Bush was a traitor, too?
Zord would have us legalize Marijuana. That conclusion does flow from the facts stated, facts Zord stated!
Peetz informs us that he is in some choir. He suggests that somehow the Supreme Court has a role to play in solving this problem. That may be the most illogical conclusion any of you have drawn. Ignorance abounds.
Peetz posted at 6:33 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
Masterrogue...you're preaching to the choir. Get your message to the Supreme Court.
Zord posted at 6:25 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
Home should realize only Money spent on Marijuana grown in or smuggled through Mexico gets to the drug cartels. And then only because Marijuana has been criminalized. The blame lies (as usual) with the federal government. It has created a complex set of convoluted rules that have actually created an industry where one did not exist before. And then added a few agencies to regulate that industry.
Before we spent money on the war on drugs we spent no money on the war on drugs! And we had less drug use, less drug related crime and we produced more. I say spend my money elsewhere.
Support Local Growers and States and Human Rights!
Peetz posted at 6:19 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
Leon...[beam][beam][beam][wink]
Leon Ceniceros posted at 5:42 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
"TRAITOR" = as defined by the Merriman Dictionary = one who is false to an obligation or duty.
Article IV, Section 4, United States Constitution = "The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them from invasion...".
President Barack Hussein Obama, as defined by the Merriman Dictionary is a "TRAITOR".
He is "false to an obligation or duty" as President of the United States under the Constitution, and should be impeached by the House of Representatives immediately and tried in the Senate for not protecting the State of Arizona from invasion.
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:45 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
@ EVT: This should also be in the "IMMIGRATION" tab too!!!
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:43 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
Please note, it was the LOCAL POLICE that started it. The FEDS can't be everywhere, which is WHY SB1070 IS NEEDED!!!!!
Masterrogue666 posted at 4:42 pm on Tue, Dec 20, 2011.
Well, KING OBAMA, want to LIE TO US SOME MORE and tell us how SAFE WE ARE?