Mexican drug cartels may be invading Utah, $2 million in narcotics seized this month

Utah police seized a handgun, two grenades, and about $800,000 worth of narcotics hidden in a suitcase during a raid late Monday night. Days earlier they discovered five vehicles containing an estimated $1 million in heroin and cocaine.

Each seizure ended with arrests of drug traffickers believed to be linked to Mexican drug cartels. According to a Union Police detective, cartel leaders keep notes on major busts in the Beehive state and may resupply rather than leave.

"There's a good chance that the cartels themselves might send somebody up here to re-establish the connection within the Salt Lake Valley, to take over," the unnamed detective told KSL.com. "I would expect with the severity of [the busts], there will be a change in the leadership as far as it goes for that group when they come up here."

Mexican cartels, he said, control these drug rings and periodically send lieutenants across the border to ensure things are running smoothly. Narcotics founds in the Sept. 3 raid are believed to have come from Nogales, where varying factions of the infamous Sinaloa cartel fight for control.

In this case, traffickers passed drugs through Stockton, California before having them confiscated in Utah.

"The Sinaloa Cartel maintains the most significant presence in the United States. They are the dominant TCO (Transnational Criminal Organization) along the West Coast, through the Midwest, and into the Northeast," read an unclassified U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report released in July, adding that

Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the group's notorious leader, is on the run after escaping a Mexican prison earlier this year. Guzman's influence extends to Chicago where he is blamed for pumping cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamines into the city.

"In contrast, Mexican cartels such as the Gulf, Juarez, and Los Zetas hold more significant influence closer to the Southwest Border," the report continued, "[but] their operational capacity decreases with distance from the border."

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were expected in Salt Lake on Thursday to determine where drugs found over the last two weeks originated.