U.S. officials revealed Monday that counterterrorism analysts helped with the capture of a Sinaloa Cartel drug trafficker hiding out in Mexico, even as those same analysts were missing paychecks due to the federal government shutdown.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said U.S. Marshals tracked down and arrested cartel affiliate Jason Duncker after the ODNI’s National Counterterrorism Center provided intelligence to authorities on the ground for the Oct. 2 arrest in Monterrey.
“While the Democrat party refuses to fully fund our government, terrorist cartels and gangs that smuggle deadly drugs into our nation do not take days off,” NCTC Director Joe Kent said in a statement shared exclusively with The Washington Times.
“Our analysts, many working without pay, recognize the safety of our nation is at stake,” he said.
The ODNI said Mr. Duncker is accused of moving more than 75 kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. and distributing hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds throughout the cartel’s network.
Officials said Mr. Duncker also moved drugs and money for the Gulf Cartel.
The ODNI could not comment on whether Mr. Duncker was a U.S. citizen.
“NCTC employs some of the best analysts and targeters in the world — experts at putting tactical intelligence in the hands of law enforcement officers,” Mr. Kent said. “They know where terrorists work, sleep, and park their cars. Thursday’s arrest sends a clear message to terrorists: we will find you, and we will take action.”
The arrest follows last month’s high-profile capture of an alleged baby- and organ-trafficking cartel ringleader known as “La Diabla” in Juarez, Mexico.
Intelligence officials said Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, a member of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, lured pregnant, often impoverished women to remote locations before forcing them into illegal cesarean sections.
The newborn would be sold for roughly $13,500 on the black market, officials said. The mother, who was usually killed during the procedure, would also have her organs removed for resale.
The broader use of intelligence assets against the Mexican cartels is borne from President Trump designating the groups as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
The new classification lets U.S. agencies crack down on the cartels with counterterrorism assets, including military-grade weaponry, rather than with the tools of the criminal justice system.
Mr. Trump shared Sunday that U.S. forces took out another drug trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela, which is one of several strikes on what American leaders call “narco-terrorists.”
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.