US Cocaine Supply Plummets

Transferred cash, drugs across international borders

(NEWSER) - The New York Times last month revealed that undercover US agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars for Mexico's drug cartels—and today the paper shines a light on one such operation, in which federal agents helped one drug trafficker and his Colombian supplier move cash and cocaine across international borders. Over a period of months in 2007, US and Mexican agents worked with that supplier—Harold Mauricio Poveda-Ortega, aka "The Rabbit"—who fed cocaine to cartel leader Arturo Beltran Levya, the New York Times reports. More»

Admin could announce plan as early as this week

(NEWSER) - President Obama is shipping agents and equipment to the border to aid Mexico's war on violent drug cartels, the Washington Post reports. His plan, to be unveiled as early as this week, aims to stop the flow of weapons and cash from the US into Mexico. Law enforcement will also increase investigations into cartel activity on the US side. This marks Obama’s first major domestic security move. More»

Top anti-drug agents accused of passing information to traffickers

(NEWSER) - Two senior officials from an elite Mexican anti-drug unit have been arrested and charged with spying for drug cartels, the Los Angeles Times reports, and dozens of agents have been fired following a tip-off from a captured informant. Prosecutors say the officials leaked information to the gangs they were supposed to be targeting in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. More»

Nationwide initiative a key step in border drug war, authorities say

(NEWSER) - US officials arrested 175 suspected Mexican drug traffickers this week in raids in a dozen states, the LA Times reports. Prosecutors believe the suspects are part of the violent Gulf cartel, considered to be a driving force in Mexico’s escalating drug wars. The raids were part of a 15-month DEA investigation that has netted 507 arrests and the seizure of more than $60 million. More»

(NEWSER) - As drug violence soars in Mexico, casualties are spreading to the Yucatan peninsula, a major tourist destination and spring break hot spot. Twelve decapitated bodies were found near the popular ruins of Chichen Itza this week, the Los Angeles Times reports. That's because a government crackdown has heightened “a kind of civil war among drug cartels,” said a drug-trafficking expert. And that violence is spilling over from the usual frontlines along the US border. More»