Thread: DEA stops largest drug trafficking operation in Arizona

DEA stops largest drug trafficking operation in Arizona

Posted: 9:14 PM
By: Navideh Forghani

PHOENIX - After an eight-month undercover drug trafficking operation, Drug Enforcement Administration agents shut down one of the largest trafficking organizations in Arizona.

The investigation was dubbed Operation Triple Threat.

Eighteen people were arrested after agents searched five homes in the Phoenix area. We’re told since April, the group has smuggled more than $33 million worth of cocaine across the U.S. border.

The organization has been in operation for at least two years.

Authorities told ABC15, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, drivers would drop off the drugs at the homes after coming through the Nogales Port of Entry. The drugs were brought to what law enforcement calls “stash houses.â€

News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 30, 2011
Contact: Special Agent Ramona Sanchez
Number: (602) 664-5725

DEA and Attorney General Announce Arrests Connected to
Multi-Million Dollar Haul of Cocaine from Mexican Cartel

DEA Acting SAC Doug Coleman at the podium; L-R: Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne; FBI SAC James Turgal; Avondale Police Department Chief Kevin Kotsur DEA Acting SAC Coleman with print and radio reporters

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne at the podium; L-R: DEA Acting SAC Coleman, FBI SAC James Turgal and Avondale Police Department Chief Kevin Kotsur. Bundles of Cocaine removed from trapped vehicle

Method of concealment False Compartment located in the closet floor of a stash house

Bundles of cocaine packed inside a hidden compartment underneath vehicle headlights Cocaine, Weapons, Cash, Seized in Operation Triple Threat

SEP 30 -- PHOENIX -- DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne today announced the arrests of 17 of 23 suspected members of a large scale cocaine trafficking organization. This organization has smuggled over 1,300 kilograms of cocaine into the United States since April 2011, with a street value estimated to be between $25,622,500 and $33,825,000.

“DEA and our partners continue to go after high-level drug smuggling organizations that choose to break our laws, peddle their poisons, and prey upon the weakness of others,â€