There are indications that a new drug cartel may be operating in the San Diego Tijuana border region. A nationwide sweep of arrests also targeted members of the cartel working in San Diego.
The 13 people arrested in San Diego and the hundreds more arrested in 18 states across the country allegedly work for a cartel called La Familia from the southwestern Mexican state Michoacan.
La Familia is a relatively new drug cartel.
Rob Dornenbush, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration's Carlsbad office, says the group is good at filling in territories that aren't wholly controlled by another cartel. He says that's how La Familia moved into the Tijuana San Diego region around 2006.
"They used the vacuum that was created from the enforcement done by the Mexican officials and the United States officials to facilitate trafficking into the United States," said Dornenbush.
Federal officials say La Familia is responsible for smuggling enormous quantities of methamphetamine into the US. They say the cartel is philosophically opposed to selling methamphetamine in Mexico.
