Drug Raids Targeting Mexican Cartel Nabs 300-Plus

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General Eric Holder calls it largest single strike at a Mexican drug cartel operating in the U.S. – the arrest of more than 300 people in a series of drug raids across the country.

Holder said at a news conference that the arrests over the past two days were aimed at the U.S. operations of the La Familia cartel. Holder said La Familia is the newest and most violent of Mexico’s five drug cartels.

More than 3,000 federal agents and police officers made the arrests in more than a dozen states. The raids are part of a long-running anti-drug operation that has led to nearly 1,200 arrests over almost four years.

A New York grand jury has indicted alleged cartel leader Servando Gomez-Martinez.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)