Feds bust Iraqi-Mexican drug operation in US, 60 arrested

Feds bust Iraqi-Mexican drug operation in US

By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press – 42 minutes ago

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal officials said Thursday they've taken down a drug and weapons trafficking ring involving members of San Diego's Iraqi community and a major Mexican drug cartel that was caught selling large amounts of drugs, guns and grenades.

Police in El Cajon said more than 60 suspects linked to the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate were arrested.

Smugglers were shipping drugs from El Cajon to Iraqis in Detroit, where the Chaldean syndicate is based, authorities said.

El Cajon and federal police say they have seized 18 pounds (8 kilograms) of methamphetamine, narcotics, cocaine and other drugs; more than 3,500 pounds (1,600 kilograms) of marijuana; $630,000 in cash; four IEDs; and more than 30 guns, including assault rifles.

In April, a Drug Enforcement Agency undercover agent was shown a hand grenade by an immigrant and was told additional grenades were available from a Mexican military source.

The cartel, Sinaloa, is Mexico's most powerful drug cartel, led by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who has become one of the world's richest and most-wanted men since he escaped from a Mexican prison 10 years ago.

The investigation focused on an Iraqi social club in El Cajon that authorities said is a hub of criminal activity conducted by Iraqi organized crime. Crimes including attempted murder, sales of meth and marijuana, gambling and illegal firearms sales have been reported at the club.

El Cajon police have for years received complaints from neighbors and the wives of men who attended the club. The managers of the club are aware of the criminal activity and demand a cut of the money, according to authorities. Armed guards are allegedly provided during high-states card games.

The club's troubles go back more than a decade. In 1998, police seized illegal slot machines. In 2007, it was identified as a gathering spot for Iraqi narcotics distributors. In 2009, authorities started investigating the illegal sale of firearms and possession of hand grenades.

Four indictments were unsealed Thursday charging nine people with federal narcotics and weapons trafficking charges and the unlawful possession of various firearms and explosives. One of the suspects, Nofel Noel Suleyman, was also charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Under Guzman, Sinaloa grew bloodier and more powerful, controlling cocaine trafficking on the Mexican border with California, while expanding eastward to the corridor between Sonora and Arizona and waging a fierce battle for Chihuahua state bordering Texas. That war made the border city of Ciudad Juarez one of the world's most dangerous cities.

In October 2010, Mexico made its largest marijuana bust — 134 tons — in Tijuana and said markings on the packages linked the haul to El Chapo, showing that he was also running drugs smoothly through a city once controlled by his archrivals, the Arrellano Felix gang.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... e877bf1d56

60 arrested in El Cajon Chaldean organized crime case

By Kristina Davis | 1:29 p.m. Aug. 18, 2011 | Updated, 5:25 p.m.

http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/img...15c2d8bc4ecd52The Chaldean social club, at 811 E. Main St., in El Cajon. Investigators allege the club is the hub of an Iraqi drug- and gun-trafficking organization. — Kristina Davis

http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/img...8561935b88c24bGuns seized as part of "Operation Shadowbox" in connection with the Chaldean social club in El Cajon. — Photo courtesy of DEA

http://cdn.sandiegouniontrib.com/img...8561935b88c24bCash seized as part of "Operation Shadowbox" in connection with the Chaldean social club. — Photo courtesy of DEA

EL CAJON — For its many regulars, the Chaldean social club in El Cajon is a place to drink tea or coffee, play Dominoes and discuss the news of the day.

But federal and local authorities say the social club, tucked in a nondescript brick strip mall behind a metal security door, is also the headquarters of an Iraqi drug- and gun-trafficking organization with ties to a Mexican drug cartel and a Detroit crime syndicate.

Sixty people associated with the social club at 811 E. Main St. have been arrested over the past 10 days in the investigation, dubbed “Operation Shadowbox,” and investigators were continuing to hunt for others implicated in the scheme.

SWAT teams served search warrants on the club late Wednesday night, seizing more than $16,000 in cash as well as evidence of illegal gambling, authorities said.

More than 100 people inside the club at the time were detained and then released.

The cornerstone of the alleged operation involves club members arranging narcotics shipments from Mexico with help from the Sinaloa drug cartel. The illicit products were then trafficked to the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate in Detroit, officials said.

The syndicate has operated since the early 1980s in Detroit, which has the largest concentration of Chaldeans in the nation, and has been associated with crimes including murder, arson, money laundering, fraud, human smuggling, kidnapping and armed robbery. The El Cajon area boasts the second-largest concentration of Chaldeans, with a population of more than 47,000.

Undercover agents made several drug buys over eight months, in El Cajon and around San Diego County, with the amounts getting bigger and bigger, said El Cajon Police Chief Pat Sprecco. Agents and confidential informants also purchased or were offered guns, explosives and even a hand grenade supplied from a Mexican military source.

The operation began in January, two months after Sprecco asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for help to combat a spike in drug sales and violence on the city’s streets.

After a number of hand-to-hand undercover drug buys, investigators realized all roads led to the social club, Sprecco said.

The club has long been a source of complaints from the public and a suspected hub of criminal activity, officials said.

Crimes documented there have included attempted murder, drug sales, gambling, illegal liquor sales and firearms sales.

Complaints have also been plentiful over the years. Wives of men who attend the club have complained about how their family’s money is being gambled away. Neighbors have complained about drug sales and prostitution. Even club members have registered their distaste for a criminal element hanging around the club.

Investigators learned that the club managers were aware of the criminal activity and demanded a portion of the proceeds. Armed guards are often on hand during high stakes card games, Sprecco said.

There have been a number of busts and arrests at the club over the years, including a 1998 investigation into illegal gambling and a 2009 probe of gun and grenade sales.

Infiltrating the tight community of Iraqis proved to be difficult, Sprecco said. Help from the DEA, as well as from a host of state and federal agencies, helped strike at the heart of the organization this time, he said.

“We didn’t expect this level of success,” Sprecco said. “We were happily surprised with the inroads of this investigation.”

Eight defendants, including one of the alleged leaders, Nofel Noel Suleyman, 22, were arraigned in federal court in San Diego Thursday afternoon, and a ninth has also been indicted.

At least 21 defendants are being prosecuted by the District Attorney’s Office, mostly on methamphetamine-related charges.

Other agencies that participated included Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Patrol, Internal Revenue Service, sheriff’s and FBI bomb squads, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“This is one case that has the ability to have a real impact on life and on the enjoyment of the quality of life,” said San Diego U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

The investigation has culminated in the seizure of more than 13 pounds of methamphetamine; more than 5 pounds of ecstasy, pharmaceuticals, crack cocaine, heroin and cocaine; and more than 3,500 pounds of marijuana, most of which was likely smuggled through maritime routes controlled by the Sinaloa Federation.

The cartel, headed by one of the world’s most wanted men, Joaquin “El Chapo,” Guzman Loera, has recently been allowed access to areas the Tijuana cartel once controlled.

Investigators also seized more than $630,000 in cash, three luxury cars, 34 firearms and four improvised explosive devices. The club has been shut down by the city and will undergo an abatement process.

Several club patrons said Thursday that for the most part the club hosted good Chaldeans who were just there to socialize. But they said the club also drew a bad element, with illegally stashed liquor and people doing drugs in the back alley late at night.

Saud Khairo, who has run the Kevin’s Hair Salon barbershop at the front of the strip mall for 12 years, said he hopes the raid will help his business by bringing back customers who may have been scared away by the club’s activities.

Mark Arabo, a local Chaldean and president of the Neighborhood Market Association, applauded police for making the city safer.

“This in no way, not even a half of one percent, is representational of the Chaldean community at large,” Arabo said. “Chaldeans are hardworking, great family people, Christians and give back to the community. There are so many great things Chaldeans do for the community, so this just comes as a shock.”

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ed-crime-case/

RELATED

Suspected members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2011
Contact: Amy L. Roderick
Number: (858 ) 616-4166

DEA San Diego/El Cajon PD Arrest 60 in Nine Month Operation

Operation Shadowbox targets Mexican and Iraqi drug trafficking organizations

AUG 18 -- SAN DIEGO – Acting Special Agent in Charge William R. Sherman, San Diego Field Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced today the arrests of 60 defendants as part of a takedown targeting Mexican and Iraqi drug trafficking organizations called Operation Shadowbox. In January of 2011, El Cajon PD contacted DEA concerning an increase in narcotics trafficking and violent crime in certain neighborhoods of El Cajon. These crimes have been attributed primarily to Iraqi organized crime elements, and as this investigation has discovered, the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexico-based drug trafficking organization (DTO) which supplies them with drugs.

The targets of this investigation are members of an Iraqi DTO which has suspected affiliation with the Chaldean Organized Crime Syndicate (COCS). The COCS began in the early 80s in Detroit, Michigan. Crimes associated with the COCS include murder, arson, weapons trafficking, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, fraud, theft, counterfeiting, racketeering, alien smuggling, assault, kidnapping, and armed robbery. Chaldean organized crime has historical ties to Sinaloa Cartel and the Mexican Mafia. The investigation soon focused on 811 East Main Street. This location houses an Iraqi social club and is a hub of criminal activity conducted by Iraqi organized crime in El Cajon. Crimes documented at 811 E. Main include: attempted murder, methamphetamine sales, marijuana sales, sale of diverted pharmaceuticals, gambling, resisting arrest, illegal liquor sales, and illegal sales of firearms.

This operation has so far resulted in 60 arrests. 30 arrests will be referred for 30 State prosecutions and charges include sales, possession for sales and conspiracy to distribute narcotics and pharmaceuticals, and possession of firearms by convicted felons. 30 arrests will be referred for Federal prosecution and charges include participation in a Continuing Criminal Enterprise, conspiracy to distribute and distribution of narcotics, marijuana, and pharmaceuticals, conspiracy to import marijuana, and possession and distribution of automatic weapons.

The investigation has resulted in the seizure of over 13 pounds of methamphetamine; over four pounds of MDMA (Ecstasy) and pharmaceuticals including Vicodin, Oxycontin, Codeine, Xanex, and Percocet, one pound of cocaine, heroin, crack cocaine, and over 3,500 pounds of marijuana. Additional seizures include over $630,000 in US currency, three luxury cars, and the seizure of 34 firearms including semi-automatic assault rifles and several fully automatic firearms, and four IEDs. The IEDs were processed with the assistance of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Bomb Squad and the FBI.

Several identified subjects in this investigation have lengthy criminal histories including controlled substance possession, and distribution, as well as grand theft auto, burglary, resisting arrest, possession of dangerous weapons and battery. As the investigation continues, additional members of the Iraqi DTO are expected to be identified.

Other agencies: San Diego County District Attorney’s, the United States Attorney’s Office, Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, United States Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, San Diego Sheriff’s Department, La Mesa SWAT Teams, and California State Department of Justice Agents.

http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/ ... 81811.html

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Feds Break Up Iraqi Crime Ring Accused Of Selling IEDs To Mexican Drug Cartels

@ Iraqi Crime Ring Accused Of Selling IEDs To Mexican Cartels

Home invasion suspect linked to Chaldean drug ring

By Kristina Davis, Reporter - Public safety
Originally published August 19, 2011 at 2:30 p.m., updated August 19, 2011 at 3:23 p.m.

EL CAJON ” A 19-year-old man charged in a violent home-invasion robbery in which he allegedly shot a dog was out on bail when he was arrested this week in connection with a Chaldean drug- and gun-trafficking ring in El Cajon.

Ranse Shaba, who is awaiting trial in the Rancho San Diego home-invasion case, was arrested Tuesday as he sold approximately 1,000 pills of ecstasy to a confidential informant in the parking lot of an El Cajon Vons grocery store, according to a federal complaint.

The drug transaction had been set up as a sting under "Operation Shadowbox"

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...ean-drug-ring/

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Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

RELATED

Suspected members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-247507.html

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This links to an article about Ron Paul, not an Iraqi drug dealer.

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Originally Posted by Newmexican

This links to an article about Ron Paul, not an Iraqi drug dealer.

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A lot of links got messed up when ALIPAC switched servers a while back. Good link:

Suspected members of an Iraqi drug-trafficking organization

Wow! Can anyone find us a list of pundits and federal government officials that have claimed this kind of collusion between the Mexican cartels and Islamic terrorists did not exist?!?!?!

W

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Wow! Can anyone find us a list of pundits and federal government officials that have claimed this kind of collusion between the Mexican cartels and Islamic terrorists did not exist?!?!?!

W

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This group of criminals is Chaldean.
Iraqi Chaldeans are Christians who left Iraq to escape persecution by the Muslims.