WASHINGTON - US AND Mexican authorities have arrested 750 people over 21 months in an anti-drug sweep, including 52 members of Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel detained on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said.

The cartel members were arrested as part of an 'international narcotics trafficking and money-laundering investigation called Operation Accelerator,' Mr Holder told a press conference.

The operation - which investigated crimes in the United States, Mexico and Canada - netted some US$59 million (S$90 million) in cash, 12,000kg of cocaine, 544kg of methamphetamine and 1.3 million Ecstasy pills.

'An operation of that scope and magnitude can only be effective with combined forces against the enemy,' Holder said, praising cooperation between agencies and governments in the arrests.

The bloody war between rival cartels, fighting for control of drug trafficking into the United States, the world's biggest consumer of cocaine, has produced internal chaos in Mexico.

Unrest related to the drug trade has caused the violent deaths of some 5,300 people throughout the country last year alone, according to official figures, despite a government crackdown that saw the deployment of nearly 36,000 troops.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration's Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, speaking alongside Holder, said the investigation unveiled the scope of the cartel's international network, including a 'super meth lab that is so sophisticated we've seen none like it anywhere.' The operation not only took out cartel operatives in larger US cities such as New York and Los Angeles, but in smaller towns like Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Stow, Ohio.

Mr Leonhart added that the raids uncovered drug factory machines able to produce 12,000 ecstasy tablets an hour.

The operation effectively 'shut down' drug cartel networks throughout North America, she said.

The DEA 'will continue attacking the international drug trade with every tool at our disposal, fighting to defeat those who put deadly drugs on our streets and engage in violence in our communities,' she said. -- AFP

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