Eduardo Arellano is believed to be one of the most sophisticated brothers and is thought to have taken control of the cartel, called the Tijuana Cartel or “Arellano Félix Organization”. He was wanted by Mexican and United States authorities in connection with the smuggling of several tons of marijuana and cocaine from Mexico into the U.S. each year.

He and his sister Enedina Arellano Félix became the leaders of the drug cartel after their brother Javier Arellano Félix was arrested by U.S. authorities on August 16, 2006; his other two brothers Ramon, believed to be the most ruthless member, was eventually killed, in a Mazatlan shootout with the Mexican Federal Police in February 2002. while his other brother Benjamin the mastermind was arrested in March 2002, leaving the leadership open to him and his sister Enedina Arellano Felix.

Eduardo was sought by Interpol in 180 countries, and the US State Department had been offering US$5,000,000 for information leading to his arrest. Eduardo Arellano was captured by the Mexican Federal Police after a shootout in Tijuana, Baja California, on October 26, 2008. According to a Mexican official, Enedina’s son, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano, has taken over the cartel’s operations.

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Aside from earning money from the sales of narcotics, the Cartel also collects taxes aka piso, cuota from street level dealers, prominent businesses. Anyone passing narcotics or aliens through a plaza belonging to the Gulf Cartel is subject to payment of these ‘taxes’ to the cartel, regardless of whether the contraband is subsequently apprehended by US law enforcement or not. Payment of these taxes assure that the Cartel will not strike violently at those who pay them. The Gulf cartel does not limit itself solely to narcotics trafficking, as they have been known to kidnap local businessmen to collect money.

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The wave of killings began last Wednesday, when three soldiers were stabbed to death inside a Monterrey bar.

An army veteran met the same fate last Thursday, the same day troops operating in Nuevo Leon seized nine tonnes of marijuana and an arsenal of guns and ammunition in the course of five separate battles with drug-cartel gunmen.

On Friday, four soldiers were found beheaded, two of them in a spot near one of the previous day’s clashes between the army and cartel-hired gunmen.

Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas, has logged nearly 150 killings in recent months as rival drug traffickers vie to control smuggling routes and local retail sales of pot, cocaine and other drugs.

The US Consulate in Monterrey suspended operations last Thursday after unknown assailants shot out some windows and hurled a grenade that failed to detonate.

Separately, a Mexican Federal Police officer was gunned down early Monday in Ensenada, a city about 116 km south of Tijuana in the northwestern state of Baja California, authorities said.

His death followed the murders of 10 people, including two other police officers, in Baja California in a 24-hour period last weekend.

The two police officers were killed in a hail of gunfire in Playas de Rosarito, which is near Tijuana, while the other bodies were found in and around the border city.

Mexico has been plagued in recent years by drug-related violence, with powerful cartels battling each other and the security forces.

Armed groups linked to the cartels murdered around 2,700 people in 2007, and the death toll this year has already touched 4,000, according to unofficial press tallies.

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And if you’re also buying bleach, matches and coffee filters, the clerk might follow you into the parking lot, write down your license plate number and call the police.

The call won’t necessarily prompt the police to follow you home, said Sgt. Eric Schober of the Portland police Drugs and Vice Division.

But, Schober said, the police might run a background check if you appear to be buying a lot of the items.

“If you’re buying enough, we might check you out,” he said.

That could be one possible result of Meth Watch, a new program announced Monday to help combat the epidemic of methamphetamine abuse that law enforcement say is sweeping the state.

The Meth Watch program aims to discourage large-quantity purchases of precursor ingredients such as the pseudoephedrine found in Sudafed and other over-the-counter allergy medicines Ñ that are used to manufacture meth, a highly addictive drug. Under the program, retail employees will be taught to identify products that can be used to produce meth and to help law enforcement agencies identify customers who appear to be buying large quantities of them.

If particular customers are buying large quantities of such products, the employees are instructed to try to identify them and pass their names onto law enforcement agencies. This is the case even when customers are repeatedly buying small quantities of the items.

Participating businesses also will post Meth Watch signs in their stores saying they are part of the program.

Although Sudafed, bleach, matches and coffee filters may be common household items, law enforcement officials say they also are used by criminals to produce meth.

“They might not sound like anything special by themselves, but if you know what you’re doing, you can use them all to make a very crude form of meth,” said Lt. Mike Shults of the Multnomah County sheriff’s office.

“Meth is everybody’s problem. It’s an issue that affects families, children, the environment and society as a whole,” Oregon U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said at a Monday morning news conference to announce the program.

Immergut and other law enforcement officials describe meth use as the state’s most serious illegal drug problem. They believe meth addicts are responsible for most property and identity theft crimes in Oregon. In addition, the process used to create meth produces toxic waste chemicals that contaminate houses, apartments and even cars where the ad hoc laboratories are hidden.

Meth production is increasing dramatically throughout the state, including Portland, according to Lt. Craig Durbin, commander of the Drug Enforcement Section of the Oregon State Police. For example, Durbin says 83 meth labs have been seized in Portland so far this year, compared to 53 for all of 2003.

“We’re seeing a pretty sharp increase in labs, even though we’re losing drug teams because of budget cuts,” Durbin said.
Statewide support

The news conference to announce the Meth Watch program was held at Safeway’s new Museum Place store in downtown Portland. It was attended by federal, state and local law enforcement officials, along with representatives of the Oregon Partnership, a nonprofit anti-drug program that is coordinating the effort.

“Meth Watch is needed to discourage the bad guys in our society who are making meth,” Safeway public relations director Bridget Flanagan said.

According to Craig Campbell, a senior policy adviser for Gov. Ted Kulongoski, more than 350 Oregon businesses have signed up for the voluntary program. In addition to Safeway, they included Wal-Mart, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Thriftway, Longs Drug Stores, Kmart, Minute Markets, OK Market, Country Store and the Korean Grocers’ Association.

Meth Watch also has a Web site, www.oregonmethwatch.org, that provides more information on the problems caused by meth and how to get involved in the program.
Spreading the word

Although the Meth Watch program is new, the Oregon Legislature already has taken steps to control the sale of products used to create meth. State law currently prohibits anyone from buying more than 9 grams of allergy medicines containing pseudoephedrine at a time. The law prohibits retailers from selling more than that amount Ñ usually 60 tablets Ñ during a single transaction.

Any product that contains more than 2 percent iodine also is restricted by Oregon law.

According to the state police’s Durbin, all jail and prison inmates will be told that the Meth Watch program is under way.

“We want them to know that if they try to make meth when they get out, there’s a good chance someone will be watching them,” Durbin said.

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Stephenville Police Chief Roy Halsell said Christapher Marc Spruill, 25, was first arrested Wednesday evening after concerned citizens reported that a suspicious man was roaming around a neighborhood, knocking on doors and offering to mow residents’ lawns. Officers quickly located the suspect and later described Spruill as being “extremely agitated” while shouting obscenities, clinching his fists and making strange noises.

“The officers believed he was intoxicated on something other than alcohol,” Halsell said. “He was placed under arrest and immediately began to resist. The officers subdued the suspect and took him to the county jail.”
He was charged with resisting arrest and public intoxication and later released after posting bond.

Less than 24 hours later, Spruill was arrested a second time after police responded to a disturbance. Again, he was “visibly intoxicated” and allegedly put up a fight.

Spruill was not booked into the jail following the second arrest due to extremely erratic, uncontrollable behavior, jail officials said.

According to Lt. Don Miller with the Stephenville Police Department, fingerprints obtained at the jail linked Spruill to the Jeep that was stolen from a residence in the Alexander Ridge area Tuesday. Miller said his prints matched those lifted from a toolbox that was recovered from the stolen vehicle. The automobile’s owner reported that the toolbox was not his own.

Miller said in addition to fingerprint evidence, investigators with the Erath County Sheriff’s Office identified Spruill as the man who had allegedly fled on foot after a chase involving Erath County Constable Larry Ciccarelli.

The constable first spotted the Jeep traveling in the area of South Lillian Street. As Ciccarelli followed, the driver attempted to flee, reaching an estimated speed of 80 mph. After crashing through a fence on CR 256, the driver fled on foot and later escaped by taking a 20-foot leap from a bridge.

In addition, Halsell said during the earlier arrest, Spruill allegedly possessed property taken from the stolen vehicle, giving officers the final piece of evidence needed in the auto theft case. He was taken to the sheriff’s office for questioning and a warrant was later issued.

Spruill was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and resisting arrest, and remains in the Erath County Jail. Bond has not been set.

“This is another case of law enforcement agencies working together to catch a bad guy,” Miller said. “The sheriff’s investigators and Detective Sgt. Casey Heath pieced together the puzzle that led to the suspect’s arrest.”

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