Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested 72 illegal immigrants, including six minors, at a nightclub run by an alleged member of the Los Zetas cartel in South Carolina over the weekend of June 1, according to an ICE statement released on Tuesday.
The agency also seized cash, narcotics, and firearms at the scene.
The criminal organization Los Zetas, now known as the Northeast Cartel (CDN), is a drug trafficking organization composed mainly of former Mexican military personnel that began as an armed wing of the Gulf Cartel. The U.S. State Department designated it as a terrorist organization in February.
The operation also led to the arrest of Honduran national Sergio Joel Galo-Baca, an illegal immigrant and fugitive who was wanted by INTERPOL for murder in his home country. ICE said that the arrests are still being processed and that the six minors identified during the operation were handed over to state social services.
The arrests were made during an operation led by the Charlotte Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Charleston, South Carolina, after ICE received information that a clandestine nightclub called “El Álamo” was involved in weapons, drugs, and human trafficking.
“Day in and day out, the brave men and women of ICE are working with local law enforcement to keep American communities safe,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Fugitives and lawbreakers are on notice: Leave now or ICE will find you and deport you.”
In April, immigration agents arrested more than 100 illegal immigrants at an underground nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, frequented by members of the MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs, where drug trafficking, prostitution, and violent crimes were allegedly taking place.
On March 14, Eleazar Medina Rojas, alias “El Chelelo”, a 53-year-old Mexican citizen and high-ranking violent leader of the Los Zetas cartel, pleaded guilty to conspiring to manufacture and distribute large quantities of cocaine and marijuana to the United States between 2006 and 2007. He participated in acts of violence against rival drug trafficking groups during conflicts for control over drug plazas and trafficking routes. His sentencing is scheduled for June 13.
On May 21, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned two leaders of Cartel del Noreste—Miguel Ángel de Anda Ledezma, alias De Anda, and Ricardo González Sauceda, alias González or “El Ricky”—for drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and violent crimes along the southern border.
Joseph Lord contributed to this report.
