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WASHINGTON – Nearly 200 people have been arrested and charged in a series of law enforcement actions targeting large-scale drug-trafficking organizations throughout the country, according to the Justice Department.
The cases in question led to the arrests of defendants in 10 states across the nation, including Alaska, netting nearly 50 kilograms of fentanyl and over 70 kilograms of meth.
Garland said the arrests “represent just a fraction of the work our agents and prosecutors are doing every day to target, disrupt, and dismantle the cartels and drug trafficking organizations that are poisoning the American people.” (AP/Susan Walsh, File)
On Jan. 23, the District of Nebraska announced charges against 19 defendants for their roles as part of a meth distribution ring operating throughout Nebraska with ties to Kentucky and California. Alejandro Ruiz, 41, allegedly ran the crime syndicate out of California and trafficked meth and other narcotics from Mexico into California and then into the Midwest, including central Nebraska. In addition to meth seized through controlled buys, law enforcement also seized three firearms.
Also on Jan. 23, the Southern District of Mississippi arrested 40 individuals stemming from a four-year federal investigation of multiple drug-trafficking organizations distributing meth, cocaine and other illegal narcotics. The case included defendants throughout Mississippi with connections to Mexico, California, Texas, Alabama and elsewhere. Some defendants are charged with committing a meth drug offense while minors, including a young toddler, were at the location. Investigators seized 36 firearms, five kilograms of crystal meth and one kilogram of cocaine.
According to the DOJ, all of these cases and arrests are part of Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operations, which aim to, “identify, disrupt, and dismantle the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.”
