BOSTON (NewsNation) — More than 170 suspected members of the Mexico-based Sinaloa cartel were arrested last month in New England, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Boston.com reports the DEA arrested 617 suspects between Aug. 25 and 29 throughout the country. Feds said they seized $11 million in cash, $1.6 million in assets, 420 firearms, hundreds of thousands of counterfeit pills, fentanyl powder, cocaine and heroin.
Nearly 245 kilograms of drugs, $1.3 million in cash and 33 guns were recovered in the New England area alone.
The Trump administration in February formally designated eight Latin American crime organizations as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
The six Mexico-based groups designated as terrorist groups include the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s oldest criminal group, which traffics drugs, weapons and people.
One of Sinaloa’s most lucrative businesses in recent years has been the production of fentanyl, blamed for tens of thousands of overdose deaths each year in the U.S. Sinaloa imports the precursor chemicals from China, produces the drug and smuggles it across the border.
The other cartels targeted by the U.S. are Jalisco New Generation, Gulf, Northeast, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and United.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.