U.S. authorities reported breaking up a Californian criminal group, composed of Iraqi immigrants, who sold drugs supplied by the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials, together with local police, made 60 arrests in the city of El Cajon, east of San Diego.
Undercover law enforcement officials had purchased weapons and drugs from the group, and one was reportedly offered a hand grenade, which the vendors said was from the Mexican military.
The Iraqi group also reportedly had long-standing ties to the Mexican Mafia, a U.S. prison gang.
The Associated Press points out many members of the Iraqi community reached the U.S. via Mexico, assisted by that country's trafficking groups, and that many passed through Tijuana on their way to California.
The Sinaloa Cartel, headed by Joaquin Guzman, alias "El Chapo," is increasingly dominant in the city of Tijuana, close to the border with California.
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