Drug Enforcement Administration officials plan to work with their counterparts in Mexico to target the gatekeepers of the smuggling corridors between the two nations.
The effort is called Project Portero. It is aimed at dismantling cartel operatives who control the smuggling routes along the Southwest Border.
“Gatekeepers are essential to cartel operations, directing the flow of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States while ensuring the movement of firearms and bulk cash back into Mexico,” the agency noted. “By specifically targeting them, DEA and its partners are striking at the heart of cartel command-and-control.”
The project will include a multi-week training and collaboration program at an intelligence center on the Southwest Border. The program brings together Mexican investigators with U.S. law enforcement, prosecutors, defense officials, and members of the intelligence community.
They plan to identify joint targets, develop coordinated enforcement strategies, and strengthen the exchange of intelligence, the DEA said. The Homeland Security Task Force also will participate.
“DEA is taking decisive action to confront the cartels that are killing Americans with fentanyl and other poisons,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said. “Project Portero and this new training program show how we will fight – by planning and operating side by side with our Mexican partners, and by bringing the full strength of the U.S. government to bear. This is a bold first step in a new era of cross-border enforcement, and we will pursue it relentlessly until these violent organizations are dismantled.”
Syndicated with permission from The Center Square.
The post DEA Targets Drug Smuggling Corridors In Work With Mexico appeared first on The Political Insider.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Brett Rowland – The Center Square
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
