Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA) Copyright: 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. Contact: PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191 Fax: (619) 293-1440 Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/ Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX Authors: S. Lynne Walker, Copley News Service and Sandra Dibble, Staff Writer Note: Copley News Service Washington correspondent Joe Cantlupe contributed to this report. S. Lynne Walker reported from Mexico City. 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D