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Public Safety

U.S. Treasury Freezes Assets of Alleged Arellano Felix Associate

The US Treasury Department has frozen the assets of a Tijuana man who was allegedly a personal assistant to the Arellano Felix drug cartel's former leader.

U.S. federal officials allege Edgardo Leyva had a close relationship with Francisco Javier Arellano Felix who lead the cartel until he was arrested on a fishing boat off La Paz, Mexico.

Officials say it was Leyva who bought the boat for Francisco Javier.

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US treasury will punish anyone doing business with Leyva, his maritime store in La Paz, or five associates with a million dollar fine.

Court documents say Leyva bought tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition at San Diego and Santee gun stores for the cartel.

Three years ago, federal agents searched Leyva's home in Chula Vista and found machine gun kits, pistol grips and high quality bugging devices.

Federal prosecutors filed a complaint against Leyva a few months later. It's not clear why the U.S. Treasury is freezing Leyva's assets three years later. U.S. treasury officials did not respond to phone messages.

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