A suspected Sinaloa Cartel operative was arrested south of the California border this week by the State Preventive Police (PEP) of Baja California after they discovered three firearms and two pounds of methamphetamine during a traffic stop in Mexicali.

Elements of the PEP patrolling in Mexicali came upon a red 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Their attention was drawn to this vehicle since they previously received intelligence pertaining to the driver. The state police later identified the man as Raúl “N,” 23. Officers discovered three firearms, four magazines, numerous rounds of various caliber, a ballistic vest, and a kilogram of methamphetamine, according to local media reports.

The driver was subsequently arrested for illegal possession of firearms and drug charges. The man is suspected of being an operative for the Sinaloa Cartel in the Mexicali Valley region, according to local Breitbart law enforcement sources. The valley is a key region for drug and human smuggling activities into Imperial Valley, California, with easy access to Los Angeles and Phoenix.

Mexican authorities and U.S. counterparts continue to make large seizures of methamphetamine along the California and Arizona borders. According to Breitbart law enforcement sources, most seizures are the result of the Sinaloa Cartel’s escalated production with “super labs.”

Breitbart News recently reported on a major seizure in the region by elements of the Mexican Federal Police, who seized approximately one ton of meth, heroin, and fentanyl. Police were conducting security operations along the Mexico-California border at the time.

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com