It's been a difficult month for the Sinaloa Cartel. Just a few weeks after cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was arrested following a shootout with Mexican marines in the city of Los Mochis, officials revealed that a U.S.-Mexican border raid has resulted in the arrest of 24 of the Cartel's members.
The sting, dubbed Mexican Operation Diablo Express, occurred Friday as Homeland Security Investigations, a unit of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, along with Mexican law enforcement officials targeted a Sinaloa cartel cell operating around the Mexican city of Sonoyta, along the Arizona border with Mexico, according to the New York Daily News.
"The operation targets criminal elements and organizations operating in and around Sonoyta, Mexico," said ICE spokeswoman Gilliam M. Christenesen.
She added that the cell was responsible for importing millions of dollars of illegal drugs, including cannabis, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine into the U.S. from Mexico. In total the cartel has is reportedly responsible for about 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. via Mexico, according to Forbes.
In addition to the 24 arrests, participating officials also confiscated various "assault type weapons" and hundreds of pounds of narcotics.
The names and positions of those arrested weren't revealed, with the only known information about them comes from who was targeted in the raid: "high-level" Sinaloa cartel members who operate in the United States and the Mexican state of Sonora, according to CNN.
For the time being, the 24 arrested members are in the custody of the Mexican government, however just like with El Chapo, the U.S. will seek their extradition.
