U S breaks up Mexican drug gang, arrests 400

LOS ANGELES, Mar 1 (Reuters) U S agents smashed a Mexican drug trafficking network by arresting more than 400 people and seizing over 18 tonnes of narcotics, authorities said on Wednesday.

U S Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the 20-month operation dismantled the Victor Emilio Cazares-Gastellum network, which smuggled cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana from Mexico and distributed it across the United States.

Police nabbed 66 people in coordinated raids across four states, bringing the total number of arrests to more than 400, he told a news conference in San Diego, California.

''These arrests demonstrate what can be achieved when domestic and international law enforcement partners team up against a common foe,'' Gonzales said.

But a report yesterday by a U N watchdog indicated U S anti-drug authorities face a daunting task.

Mexican cartels now dominate drug trafficking in the United States, are taking over areas once controlled by Colombians and even grow cannabis in U S territory, the International Narcotics Control Board said in its annual report.

The U S Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said the latest operation netted more than 13.5 tonnes of marijuana, 4.7 tonnes of cocaine, hundreds of pounds (kg) of methamphetamine and heroin, and 45.2 million dollars in drug proceeds.

The investigation also led to the seizure of 6.1 million dollars in property and assets, roughly 100 weapons and 94 vehicles.

''We ripped out this empire's U.S. infrastructure from its commanders and transportation coordinators ... and tossed it into the dustbin of history,'' said DEA administrator Karen Tandy.

WAR FOR CONTROL A fight for territory between warring drug cartels killed about 2,000 people in Mexico last year and has shown few signs of calming down despite a military onslaught by the government of new President Felipe Calderon.

Court papers set out how the Victor Emilio Cazares-Gastellum network brought Colombian and Venezuelan drugs to Mexico through Central America, hauling them north in motor vehicles and planes.

Once in Mexico, the narcotics were smuggled into the United States through various points of entry along the porous 2,000-mile (3,200-km) border.

The U N watchdog said mass production of methamphetamine in secret labs in western and northwestern Mexico was keeping supply of the drug steady in the United States, where it is seen as a ''grave health, policing and political problem.'' The report said the success of U S authorities in closing down meth labs had been overshadowed by increasing production in Mexico and Canada.

Organizations from Mexico, already North America's biggest producer of marijuana, have bumped up production of high-grade cannabis on public and private property within the United States, it said.

Cocaine sold on U S streets starts as raw coca leaves in South America, is processed in Colombia and shipped through Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean in its refined form.

The International Narcotics Control Board said coca-growing areas shrunk in 2005 in Peru and Bolivia but rose in Colombia, where the United States has provided billions of dollars to support the government's fight against traffickers.

REUTERS DH RN0739