Attorney General Eric Holder announced on 10 June 2010 that Project Deliverance, a 22-month DEA-led operation against the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, had arrested 2,266 people and seized about $154 million in currency.[1] The operation comprised 18 separate investigations and more than 500 cases run out of the DEA’s Special Operations Division center, with a central focus on the El Paso-Juarez corridor and a crucial lead involving the Sinaloa Cartel.[2]
On the final takedown day of 9 June, more than 3,000 federal, state and local officers arrested 429 people in 16 states, taking $5.8 million in currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons and 85 vehicles.[1] Across the whole operation, officers seized 1,262 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.5 tons of cocaine, 1,410 pounds of heroin, 69 tons of marijuana, 501 weapons and 527 vehicles.[1][2] This report counts only the 69 tons (about 62.6 tonnes) of marijuana in its cannabis figures.[1]
Mexican law enforcement supported the operation, and among those arrested was alleged heroin trafficker Carlos Ramon Castro-Rocha, designated a Consolidated Priority Organization Target, who was detained in Mexico on 30 May 2010 on a United States warrant.[1]
