Federal agents have been conducting raids in U.S. cities and targeting Mexican cartel members in response to last week’s murder of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico, the Associated Press reported. Another ICE agent Victor Avila Jr. was shot and wounded.
“We are taking a stand and we are sending a message back to the cartels that we will not tolerate the murder of a U.S. agent, or any U.S. official,” Carl Pike, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s special operations division said, according to AP.
The roundup, which began Wednesday and is expected to go through Friday, has targeted cities including Atlanta, St. Louis, Denver, Detroit, San Antonio, San Diego, Chicago and New Jersey, AP reported.
AP reported agents seized more than $4.5 million in cash and nearly 20 guns, arrested more than 100 people and confiscated about 23 pounds of methamphetamine, 107 kilos of cocaine, 5 pounds of heroin and 300 pounds of marijuana at more than 150 different locations.
