Operation Kruz Control was a twelve-month, multi-agency investigation of a drug trafficking organization in southern Arizona, between December 2012 and December 2013. According to Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials, the Phoenix-based Luiz Armando Cruz organization, which works for the Sinaloa Cartel of northern Mexico, is responsible for the smuggling of thousands of pounds of marijuana into Arizona and New Mexico and the smuggling of the proceeds back into Mexico, via the Agua Prieta corridor. The Cruz organization utilized both drivers in vehicles and backpackers to transport drug loads through remote desert areas near San Simon and Willcox, Arizona, and then to Tucson and Phoenix for further distribution.