U.S. Treasury targets Mexican drug cartel

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department said it placed sanctions on a Mexican pilot for training drug carriers for the Sinaloa drug cartel.

The Treasury Department singled out Alejandro Flores Cacho and 16 other members of his alleged financial and drug trafficking enterprise in Mexico and Colombia.

Flores Cacho allegedly acts as a pilot who controls a drug trafficking ring in coordination with members of the Sinaloa cartel.

The Treasury Department said Flores Cacho operates an aircraft hangar and aviation business in Toluca, Mexico, that is used to train pilots involved in drug trafficking.

Adam Szubin, the director of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, said the sanctioning was part of Washington's efforts to combat Mexican drug cartels waging a war on the Latin American state.

"Treasury will continue to target the Mexican drug cartels in support of the government of Mexico's dedicated and courageous efforts to combat narcotics trafficking and money laundering," he said in a statement.

Flores Cacho and his chief lieutenant Ricardo Garcia Sanchez were indicated in 2008 on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering and are considered fugitives, the Treasury Department added.