MEXICO CITY (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has announced a reward of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of Sinaloa Cartel Tijuana Plaza bosses Rene Arzate-García, a/k/a 'La Rana,' and his brother, Alfonso Arzate-García, a/k/a 'Aquiles.'
The State Department said these rewards are offered in coordination with the DEA San Diego Division and U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California in a unified effort to bring the Arzate-García brothers to justice.
Also Thursday, the U.S. Department of Justice charged them with Narcoterrorism and Material Support of Terrorism in connection with trafficking massive amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana into the United States.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, René and Alfonso Arzate-García have jointly controlled the Tijuana Plaza for the Sinaloa Cartel for the past 15 years, maintaining authority through violence, strategic alliances, and deep local influence, including political and police corruption. Despite ongoing conflicts, they continue to manage this critical trafficking corridor, making them key figures in sustaining cartel operations, including trafficking deadly illicit fentanyl, designated by the Trump Administration as a Weapon of Mass Destruction, into U.S. communities. Last year, the Trump Administration designated the Sinaloa Cartel as both a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
'Foreign terrorist organizations like the Sinaloa Cartel have spent decades poisoning our children and committing acts of unimaginable violence against innocent civilians -- no longer under President Trump,' said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. 'This latest indictment, which follows the landmark conviction of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder 'El Mayo' on American soil, is a key development in this Department of Justice's ongoing campaign to permanently dismantle these cartels and deliver American justice to their cowardly leaders.'
'Rene Arzate-García is a ruthless Sinaloa Cartel plaza boss who is accused of exploiting U.S. ports of entry to flood our nation with fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine,' said DEA Administrator Terrance Cole. 'He and his brother, Alfonso, are among DEA's wanted fugitives for these alleged crimes against the United States.
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