Posted on 02/28/2007 9:01:45 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO – Federal authorities Wednesday arrested dozens of individuals across the country suspected of bringing 18 tons of illegal drugs into the United States, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales said in an afternoon news conference here.
Members of the Victor Emilio Cazares-Gastellum drug trafficking ring were awakened in the early morning hours by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies who served simultaneous arrest warrants as part of a 20-month-long investigation into the ring's operations, Gonzales and other federal officials said.
Gonzales said the Mexico-based organization acquired drugs from Colombia and Venezuela to Central America, then smuggled them into the United States from Mexico. Once in the U.S., the drugs were broken down into smaller shipments in such cities as Los Angeles and San Diego and disseminated to distribution cells in various states.
The ring supplied cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana monthly to its distributors by air, land and sea. Officials said it also laundered millions of dollars profited from the drug trafficking.
“The war on drugs is an ongoing challenge not just for the United States but for our neighbors and the rest of the hemisphere as well,” Gonzales said. He added that “the drug smugglers we are fighting have no respect for national borders.”
The investigation resulted in the federal indictment of 19 individuals in federal court in San Diego. Those indicted include Mexican nationals and others with residences in Calexico and El Centro, officials said.
So far, nine of the 19 indicted defendants have been arrested. Gonzales said the head of the cartel was not among those arrested.
According to the indictments unsealed Wednesday, Cazares-Gastellum, who competed with the Arellano Felix cartel, was the head of the drug trafficking organization.
Defendants Jose Oscar Del Castillo-Gallardo, Carlos Cuevas Jr. and Sergio Kaiser-Chavez are accused of heading the transportation operations of cocaine between Mexico and the United States.
Other defendants are charged with conspiring to import and distribute the drugs.
Through the course of the investigation, officials made more than 400 arrests across the country – including the 66 people arrested Wednesday morning in California, Arizona, New York and Illinois, Gonzales said.
Authorities said they also seized
More than $45 million in U.S. currency;
9,400 pounds of cocaine;
8 pounds of heroin;
226 pounds of pure methamphetamine, also known as “ice,”;
27,218 pounds marijuana ;
465 marijuana plants;
$5.3 million in non-cash assets, primarily real property;
61 vehicles;
83 firearms.
More than 100 agencies and foreign law enforcement officials participated in the investigation, called “Operation Imperial Emperor.”
The U.S should stop the Demand in the U.S cause thats what its all about.
So now those law enforcement agencies probably want a medal.
Welcome to FR.
If any are innocent as you suggest, and possibly some may be, their best hope is that they didn't have any of those drugs monies and guns that were confiscated in their possession. Otherwise, they'll have a hard time convincing a jury of their innocence.
OTH, if they were caught up in the sweep due to a criminal informant's testimony alone, nevermind, they're still toast. Since in the mind of many jurors, merely being implicated suggests a degree of guilt.
Welcome to Free Republic, yada yada yada.
AND democrats and republicans are ABORTING their babies like it wasn't MURDER..
Many/Most of them are DOPED UP... much of the time..
TRUE
Just so you will no on Jan 16 the first raid took place on 5 homes of the top ones on this indictment except for Emiliano Cazared. That day authorities couldn capture Eduardo aka Lalo because they raid the wrong trailer that was next door to him so he fled. My point is that authorities didnt even had enough information on this case. Thats probaly why most of this 19 indicted persons are already out
you were wrong
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