Operation Diablo Express

Operation Diablo Express
Part of the Mexican Drug War
Date 29 January 2016 Location Sonoyta, Sonora, Mexico Lukeville, Arizona, USA[1] Result US-Mexico victory
Belligerents
Mexico  United States	Sinaloa Cartel
Casualties and losses
None	2 killed 22 arrested[1]

Operation Diablo Express^[1] was a cross-border raid launched on 29 January 2016, by a combined force of Mexican and American police to apprehend members of the Sinaloa Cartel in Lukeville, Arizona, and the neighboring border town Sonoyta, in northwestern Sonora.^[2]

According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokeswoman Gillian M. Christensen; the Sinaloa cartel "cell" targeted in Sonoyta and the adjacent Lukeville area were responsible for the "importation of millions of pounds of illegal drugs, including marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine" into the United States, as well as the smuggling of "millions of dollars in U.S. currency, along with weapons, into Mexico." Christensen also reported that an ICE unit, Homeland Security Investigations, assisted Mexican police in the operation.^[1] The DEA, FBI, Customs and Border Protection and Arizona state and local agencies were also involved in coordinated operations on the Arizona side of the border.^[2]

Mexico's National Security commissioner, Renato Sales, issued a statement explaining that the operation was conducted via land and air and that when Federal Police moved in they came under fire from armed men, who were guarding the area. Two of the gunmen were killed in the ensuing gun battle and twenty-two others were taken into police custody.^[2]