More than 300 people have been arrested in a series of drug raids targeting a Mexican drug cartel operating in the US, American officials have said. The two-day operation, which involved thousands of police officers in 19 US states, is the latest aimed at the cartel known as La Familia. It was part of Project Coronado, which has led to almost 1,200 arrests over four years, officials said. The US attorney general said the cartel had been dealt a "significant blow". La Familia, which is based in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, has been accused of carrying out bloody attacks on Mexican security forces. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has deployed more than 45,000 troops to fight drug gangs since he took office in December 2006. However, more than 11,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in that time.
Announcing the arrest of 303 suspected cartel members on Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder described the gang as demonstrating "an incredible level of sophistication and ruthlessness". The Mexican authorities "face a problem of almost unimaginable dimensions", he added. In the course of the two-day crackdown, US police and FBI agents seized $3.4m (£2.05m) in cash, 144 weapons and more than 100 vehicles, as well as stashes of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. "These are drugs that were headed for our streets, and weapons that often were headed to the streets of Mexico," Mr Holder said.
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Announcing the arrest of 303 suspected cartel members on Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder described the gang as demonstrating "an incredible level of sophistication and ruthlessness". The Mexican authorities "face a problem of almost unimaginable dimensions", he added. In the course of the two-day crackdown, US police and FBI agents seized $3.4m (£2.05m) in cash, 144 weapons and more than 100 vehicles, as well as stashes of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. "These are drugs that were headed for our streets, and weapons that often were headed to the streets of Mexico," Mr Holder said.
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