FBI Media Release
Special Agent in Charge Manuel E. Mora

660 Mesa Hills Drive El Paso, TX 79912

To: All print and broadcast media

Contact: Special Agent Andrea Simmons, 915.832.5373

May 19, 2006

FBI presents more than $1 million to El Paso Sheriff’s Department

The El Paso Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will present a $1.4 million check to the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department for their role in Operation Baja Kings, an international drug investigation.

The media is invited to attend the presentation on Monday, May 22, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. at the FBI office, 660 S. Mesa Hills, El Paso, Texas .

This money is being provided to the Sheriff’s Department as part of the federal sharing law that allows law enforcement agencies who assist the FBI to receive a percentage of the assets seized. This check, $1,404,577.57, represents the largest asset sharing check the El Paso FBI has presented to an area law enforcement agency.

This four-year investigation included the takedown of the major criminal subjects affiliated with the organizations of Ignacio Coronel Villareal, Joaquin Guzman Loera and Mario Ismael Zambada Garcia. It resulted in 66 federal indictments and 25 federal complaints along with the seizure of 148 lbs. of crystal ice methamphetamine, 865 kgs. of cocaine, 5,500 lbs. of marijuana and $10.5 million in bulk cash.

The El Paso Division of the FBI, along with the El Paso DEA and the El Paso County Criminal Enterprise Unit, received the U.S. Attorney General’s award for this investigation in August 2005, which was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in El Paso.