WASHINGTON, July 30 (UPI) -- Officers participating in an international fugitive hunt along the Southwest border arrested 2,127 suspected felons in less than five months, the U.S. Marshals Service said Tuesday.
Operation SORT II "specifically targeted major narcotics criminals who had substantial resources to fund new identities and frequent movements," the Marshals Service said.
The service announced the successful end of the initiative as U.S. marshals and others met in Washington to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. The Marshals Service is part of OCDETF.
"SORT" stands for Special OCDETF Response Teams. SORT II was carried out by U.S. and Mexican law enforcement on both sides of the border between March 4 and July 19.
"The sheer number of violent fugitives taken off the street makes this a successful operation," Marshals Service Director Ben Reyna said in a prepared statement. "The added benefit was the dismantling of narcotics organizations in Texas, Arizona and Southern California."
Reyna said the operation was "quite a bargain" at "just under $600 per arrest."
Included in the more than 2,100 arrests were the apprehensions of 199 OCDETF-targeted drug traffickers and violent offenders.
The 199 included felons wanted by other federal, state and local agencies throughout the country.
Joining the Marshals Service for Operation SORT II were 36 domestic and six foreign law enforcement agencies, and investigative teams were able to pursue leads and make arrests wherever the fugitives were located.
The service said 64 fugitives wanted in the United States were nabbed in Mexico, and 22 wanted by that nation were captured in the United States.
"Federal, state and local agencies not only committed experienced law enforcement officers for the duration of the operation," Reyna added, "but those officers brought with them valuable knowledge of the community, resulting in a successful operation."
Attorney General John Ashcroft addressed OCDETF's 20th anniversary conference in Washington Tuesday.
Ashcroft compared the war on drugs to the war on terror, noting that the federally sponsored organization claimed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and current Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson as "founding fathers."
"OCDETF created all-star teams of law enforcement officials focused on a single goal," Ashcroft said, "to cripple and ultimately dismantle major drug trafficking organizations, root and branch."
Terrorist organizations are increasingly turning to drug trafficking for financing, according to the attorney general.
A study he ordered earlier this year found that "nearly one-third of the organizations on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations appear also on our list of targeted U.S. drug suppliers," Ashcroft said in prepared remarks.
The reorganization and revitalization of OCDETF are a key component in the fight against this new alliance, the attorney general said.
