In a joint U.S.-Mexican operation final month, government tracked down a cartel chief accused of strolling a grotesque little one trafficking ring in northern Mexico, in line with senior intelligence officers.
Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, recognized as "La Diabla," (The She-Devil) changed into captured on Sept. 2 after officers say the chief of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, noted via way of means of the U.S. as CJNG, lured a handful of pregnant women — regularly in inclined or impoverished circumstances — to far off areas.
Once there, CJNG traffickers allegedly accomplished unlawful cesarean operations at the women, killing the moms and allegedly harvesting their organs postmortem, and putting newborns into illicit markets, in line with senior intelligence officers. The toddlers have been then bought to couples withinside the United States for as a great deal as 250,000 pesos or roughly $14,000 each, in line with the senior intelligence officers.
Mexican government have been tipped off via way of means of intelligence supplied via way of means of the National Counterterrorism Center, beneathneath the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. NCTC Director Joe Kent referred to as the scheme an "instance of what terrorist cartels will do to diversify their sales streams and finance operations," in a declaration supplied to CBS News, crediting NCTC analysts with monitoring Aguilar`s styles and locations, then coordinating with U.S. intelligence and Mexican companions at the ground.
Senior intelligence officers say the arrest concerned aid from the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI El Paso, Diplomatic Security Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, with Mexican regulation enforcement executing the operation alongside "Fiscalia Especializada en l. a. Mujer" or the Special Prosecutor's Office for Women. Aguilar stays in Mexican custody, in line with senior intelligence officers. The research into the alleged trafficking ring stays ongoing.
The case underscores Washington's intensified focused on of Mexican cartels in latest years.
In January, President Trump signed an government order directing the State Department to designate cartels and transnational gangs as overseas terrorist organizations, or FTOs. The State Department in February introduced the designation for 8 gangs, along with CJNG.
The seize of "La Diabla" marks an growth withinside the utility of U.S. counterterrorism policy, with intelligence factors like NCTC now actively making use of counterterrorism talents to goal now no longer handiest narcotraffickers, however additionally human trafficking earrings and terroristic violence via way of means of companies like CJNG, infamous for brutal processes and manipulate over swaths of Mexico's territory.
Under the brand new FTO framing, U.S. companies wield extra expansive tools, along with intelligence, sanctions, and army aid to song down the cartels and their affiliates, past reliance on conventional crook prosecutions. Critics of the technique have warned of overreach and unintentional consequences, whilst proponents argue that cartels more and more more characteristic like hybrid terrorist companies to select out up territorial manipulate and extend trafficking networks.
According to NCTC, U.S. intelligence has introduced over 21,000 cartel contributors and friends into their labeled terrorist database, growing over 35,000 identities associated with the newly certain overseas terrorist organizations. Last month, the organization said that 6,525 terrorists were denied access into america due to the fact that the start of the Trump administration.
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