Drug trafficking sweep launched in response to agent’s death

Reporting from Washington —  U.S. authorities launched a nationwide sweep of drug trafficking suspects, declaring the crackdown a retaliatory strike against the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels after the killing of an American agent in Mexico last week.

More than 100 suspects were arrested in nine cities across the U.S. during coordinated raids by federal, state and local police that began Wednesday and continued Thursday. Mexican drug cartels have distribution channels in every major city in the U.S., said Derek Maltz, special agent in charge of special operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The push came after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jaime Zapata was killed and another officer was wounded Feb. 15. A member of the Zetas drug cartel is accused of opening fire on the agents’ black Chevy Suburban on a highway north of Mexico City.

Authorities said the sweeps were a direct response to the slaying of Zapata, who was the highest-profile U.S. law enforcement officer killed in Mexico since DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was kidnapped and tortured by drug gangs in 1985. That incident launched a national campaign against drug traffickers and soured relations between the U.S. and Mexico over apparent inaction by the Mexican government.

“If you attack a U.S. law enforcement officer, we are not going to back down,” said Maltz, who is coordinating the national roundup along with ICE.

On Wednesday, the Mexican army announced it had arrested the main suspect in Zapata’s shooting. Mexican authorities are leading the investigation with assistance from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

In one of the raids Thursday morning, a Houston police officer executing a warrant was shot in the elbow and hip by a criminal associated with the Zetas cartel, said a U.S. lawmaker who was briefed on the incident but spoke on condition of anonymity. The officer is in good condition, said a spokesman for the Houston Police Department.

The sweeps, dubbed Operation Fallen Hero, resulted in the seizure of $4.5 million in cash, 107 kilograms of cocaine, 300 pounds of marijuana and more than 37 guns. In total, the DEA has seized more than $700 million in cash from Mexican drug cartels over the last three years.

The crackdown is “long overdue,” said U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), who described the raids as a “show of force” that the cartels would understand.

McCaul is frustrated at the slow pace of spending by the U.S. State Department of a $400-million fund intended to help Mexico battle drug cartels operating inside its borders. As chairman of a House Homeland Security subcommittee, McCaul plans to hold hearings next month to determine what more the U.S. could be doing to help Mexico combat the drug cartels.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon called the U.S. effort in the drug war “insufficient” in an interview with a Mexican newspaper this week. More than 35,000 people have been killed in Mexico since the crackdown Calderon launched against drug cartels when he took office in December 2006.

President Obama will host Calderon at the White House on Tuesday, and the Mexican president is expected to ask Obama to do more to stop the number of automatic weapons and amount of drug money flowing from the U.S. into Mexico.

brian.bennett@latimes.com