Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jul 2005
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2005 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jerry Seper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

DEA NETS MILLIONS IN DRUG INITIATIVE

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has seized more than $28
million in illicit drug profits, made 230 arrests and confiscated more
than 3,300 pounds of cocaine and 37,000 pounds of marijuana in an
investigation targeting drug-related proceeds and assets.

DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy said yesterday that undercover
agents, during an operation dubbed "Money Trail Initiative," disrupted
major drug organizations by identifying and attacking the financial
structures critical to supporting the illegal trade. The investigation
began last year.

"While money is the main motivation for drug traffickers, it is also
their No. 1 vulnerability," Mrs. Tandy said. "In this initiative, we
followed the money trail from several cash seizures in the U.S. around
the Western Hemisphere, and it led us to identifying and indicting two
drug trafficking brothers, one of whom is on the most wanted drug
traffickers list."

Mrs. Tandy said the initiative was the culmination of three nationally
coordinated undercover operations -- Choque, Denali and Falling Star
- -- that successfully targeted several drug operations.

The initiative involved DEA agents in 33 U.S. cities from New York to
Los Angeles and agents in Ciudad Juarez and Guadalajara, Mexico;
Guatemala City; and Bogota, Colombia.

The brothers, Oscar Arturo Arriola-Marquez and Miguel Angel
Arriola-Marquez, have since been designated as drug kingpins by
President Bush, included in a list of eight named in June. The
designation, under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, is
aimed at denying them, their businesses and their operatives access to
the U.S. financial system and all trade and transactions involving
American companies and persons.

The act authorizes the president to take such steps when he determines
a foreign narcotics trafficker presents a threat to the security,
foreign policy or economy of the United States.

The Arriola-Marquez brothers were targeted during the 30-month
"Operation Choque," which resulted in 95 arrests and the seizure of
3,100 pounds of cocaine, 523 pounds of marijuana, 10 pounds of
methamphetamine, 30 weapons, $12 million in currency, $8 million in
other assets and 144 vehicles. They were described as the ringleaders
of the drug operation, with Mexican money broker Saul Saucedo-Chaidez,
also known as "the Engineer."

They were charged with receiving and moving nearly $42 million a year
in drug money between the United States and Mexico. Most of the drugs
were moved into the United States in tractor-trailers, offloaded into
barns in Colorado and transported to dealers in Chicago and New York,
from where they were routed to other cities. The drug profits were
returned to Mexico in suitcases, boxes and crates and inside tires.

Miguel Angel Arriola-Marquez and Saucedo-Chaidez were arrested in
Mexico and are awaiting extradition to the United States. Oscar Arturo
Arriola-Marquez remains a federal fugitive and is thought to be in
Mexico. 
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