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NEWSLETTER SIGN UPlpanter@barrowcountynews.com
Federal officials announced Thursday they had arrested more than 300 people across the United States, in raids targeting the newest and most violent Mexican drug cartel operating within U.S. borders — and Barrow County’s own had a hand in it.
Project Coronado, as the crackdown is called, focused on La Familia Michoacana, also known as La Familia and across the country, more than 300 people were taken into custody, with a coordinated move that began at 6 p.m. La Familia has a reputation for dominating the methamphetamine market and using gross violence — including beheadings. They are notorious for using scare tactics to maintain power across the country.
Federal officials said that La Familia has a vast network across the country, pushing drugs into many communities.
Arrests took place in 38 cities in 19 states.
For the past two and a half years the Barrow County Sheriff’s Office has had a deputy assigned to the Atlanta High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), said Barrow County Investigator Matt Guthas, and that deputy actively participated in the sweep.
In the metro-Atlanta area, 38 individuals were arrested as part of the crackdown on La Familia.
Police found drugs and cash in the homes they raided, to the tune of 17 kilos of cocaine, 188 pounds of meth, 13 guns and $50,000 in U.S. currency.
Over the past year, Operation Coronado has arrested 86 people and seized $2.7 million.
Rodney Benson, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Agency Atlanta Field Divison, spoke about La Familia.
"Today through Project Coronado we have impacted La Familia Michoacana, a violent poly drug
organization with cells operating throughout the United States. Working with our federal, state and local counterparts, we have once again brought to
justice members of a dangerous organization operating in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area responsible for trafficking
not only illicit drugs
but complicit in kidnappings and attempted murder."
The DEA, Roswell Police, Gwinnett County Police, Atlanta Police, Georgia State Patrol, GBI, Suwanee Police, Alpharetta Police, Sandy Springs Police, Johns Creek Police, Commerce Police, Floyd County Sheriff’s Office also worked on the crackdown in Georgia.
