Dozens Arrested in Arizona Drug Bust

After a 17-month investigation led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, federal, state and local authorities cracked down on a vast drug-smuggling network in Arizona that officials tied to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, making 76 arrests in three separate raids. 

AP via NPR:

Authorities have dismantled a “massive” drug trafficking ring responsible for smuggling more than $33 million worth of drugs through the U.S. state of Arizona’s western desert each month in recent years, officials said Monday.

The ring is believed be tied to the Sinaloa cartel — Mexico’s most powerful — and its members smuggled more than 3.3 million pounds (1.5 million kilograms) of marijuana, 20,000 pounds (9,071 kilograms) of cocaine and 10,000 pounds (4,535 kilograms) of heroin into the U.S. through Arizona, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Read more

AP / Ross D. Franklin

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu checks out one of the weapons seized by federal, state and local law enforcement during a bust of a major drug smuggling ring in Arizona.