The Sinaloa drug cartel started in the Mexican State of Sinaloa and now operates on the northwest coast of Mexico and the Baja peninsula. But that’s just south of the border. In the US, the Sinaloa cartel runs drugs into California and the Western United States – and now Utah.
To close out August, federal agents arrested 30 people in three states, including Utah, that were running methamphetamine. In Salt Lake City, the feds got the ring leaders – seven principles operating out of restaurant in the city. These arrests were the culmination of a year and a half investigation and besides methamphetamine, the group was said to have dealt in cocaine and heroin.
The Sinaloa cartel is a group with deep roots in Mexico and known for growing poppies (for heroin) and marijuana. To the south, the cartel reached down into South America where it gets its cocaine. To the east and north, until now it was operating out of Atlanta and several arrests have been made in that city. To find the group operating out of Salt Lake City is not just a surprise, but an indication that expansion is on the menu.
The fact that the group was dealing methamphetamine may be significant. During the last decade in the US, methamphetamine manufacturing has gone down. Tighter regulations and restrictions on the chemicals needed to make the drug meant costs and risks have increased. So the shift from homemade methamphetamine to smuggling may have offered an opportunity for the cartel to make inroads. After all, here in the west, we still seem to prefer meth over cocaine.
This organization shouldn’t be underestimated. They have a history of violence that includes beheadings and burning people alive as well as a practiced routine of corrupting Mexican law enforcement. All in all, facing these folks will be a huge challenge for law enforcement. Perhaps these arrests will warn them that we aren’t going to just let them move in without fighting back.
