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Drug enforcement officials and federal prosecutors said Friday that a recent drug bust involving the arrest of more than 90 alleged drug importers and dealers in the Seattle area had a "significant impact" on the drug trade here.

In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, 20 defendants, mostly from Mexico, were accused of funneling large amounts of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine into Seattle and throughout Western Washington.

The arrests were made over the last several days.

The drug bust "severely impacted a major Mexican organized crime group that's been operating in the Seattle area for some time," said Seattle Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Rodney Benson at a news conference at his office.

Many of the defendants appeared in U.S. District Court Thursday for their initial appearances. Several additional defendants also swept up in recent raids have appeared in earlier federal court hearings in Seattle and Tacoma.

According to the most recent indictment, the alleged drug importers and dealers brought the drugs into the region and then set up networks to distribute them. The alleged drug pipeline flowed from Mexico to Western Washington through California, prosecutors said in court papers.

The defendants employed countersurveillance methods to try to avoid detection and capture, according to prosecutors.

According to the indictment defendants warned each other about law enforcement actions, such as physical surveillance, arrests of co-conspirators, searches of vehicles and seizures of controlled substances. Defendants also counseled each other "regarding how they should react to law enforcement actions," according to the documents.
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A two-year investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and Seattle Police Department has led to dozens of arrests and the seizure of large quantities of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle.

The investigation, announced this afternoon during a news conference in Seattle, targeted a drug-dealing organization that brought drugs in from Mexico and distributed them in Seattle, Tacoma and Yakima, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said. A federal grand jury in Seattle indicted 20 people Wednesday in connection with the drug conspiracy. On Thursday, 14 of the indicted defendants were arrested.

In addition, 52 other people were arrested on federal, state or immigration charges. Six more defendants were scheduled to make their initial appearances in federal court in Seattle today.

"The arrests and indictments in these operations have removed key players in the drug trade in our area," said U.S. Attorney John McKay. "Members of these drug organizations were heavily armed and dealing in large quantities of drugs and cash. During the raids yesterday alone, agents seized more than four pounds of heroin, six kilos of cocaine, two pounds of meth, eight guns and $300,000 in cash."

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