DEA/FBI Set Up New Tip Lines
Feds looking for information on major traffickers
(SAN DIEGO) - - William R. Sherman, Special Agent in (SAC), San Diego Office of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) is announcing a new tip line and email address for the public to provide information concerning drug trafficking organizations operating in the San Diego and Southern California areas as well as Northern Baja California, Mexico.
For the better part of the last twenty years the Arellano Felix (AFO) built and sustained an illicit drug empire through the use of kidnappings, torture, assassinations, and corruption. The effects of this brutal organization were felt throughout the United States and more specifically San Diego, California as well as in one of the largest cities within the Republic of Mexico, Tijuana, Baja California.
In 1995, the DEA , FBI and U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as many other federal, state and local agencies joined forces to successfully target and completely dismantle the leadership of the AFO, most notably; Benjamin Arellano Felix, arrested in Puebla, Mexico in 2002, and extradited to the United States in 2012, Javier Arellano Felix, arrested by U.S. authorities at sea in 2006; and Eduardo Arellano Felix, arrested in Tijuana, Mexico in 2008 and extradited to the United States in 2012 and Gustavo Rivera Martinez, arrested in Los Barriles, Baja California Sur in 2008 and pending extradition to the United States.
Today, the citizens of San Diego and Tijuana continue to be threatened by violent criminal organizations, such as the “Tijuana Cartel” under the leadership of Fernando Sanchez Arellano and his associate Jose Manuel Lopez Nunez, aka “Balas”. Other organizations have evolved such as those being led by Jose Soto Gastelum, aka “Tigre”, Alfonso Arzate Garcia, aka “El Aquiles”, Rene Arzate Garcia, aka “La Rana” and Miguel Angel Trevino, aka “Z-40”, who have made alliances with other well known Drug Trafficking Organizations such as the “Sinaloa Cartel” led by Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka “El Chapo” and Ismael Zambada Garcia, aka “El Mayo”.
In order to combat these emerging threats, the San Diego Major Traffickers Task Force is announcing the creation of a new tip line and email address for the public to provide information concerning drug trafficking organizations operating in the San Diego and Southern California areas as well as Northern Baja California, Mexico.
The hotline is staffed by U.S. Federal Agents and callers may be eligible for monetary rewards for information that leads to significant arrests and seizures. The hotline’s toll free numbers are 855-780-(U.S.) and 001-855-780-(Mexico) and the email address is DTOTIPS@USDOJ.GOV.
The San Diego Major Traffickers Task Force is comprised of agents and officers from DEA, FBI, IRS, Homeland Security Investigations, (HSI), United States Border Patrol and US Attorney’s Office.
