Drug taskforce seizes 130 pounds of heroin
Originally published 01:33 p.m., April 3, 2008
Updated 01:33 p.m., April 3, 2008


A multi-agency anti-drug taskforce recently seized more than 130 pounds of heroin in the biggest bust of its kind in Ventura County history, authorities said at a press conference today.

At the conference in the SheriffÂąs Department's Jail Annex Building in the county government center, the captured heroin was laid out in plastic wrapped blocks alongside more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine, more than a kilogram of cocaine, a large amount of designer drugs, a half-dozen guns and pictures of five suspected drug dealers arrested by the Ventura County Combined Agency Taskforce in recent months.

The taskforce includes detectives from the Ventura County Sheriff's Department and the Oxnard Police Department, prosecutors from the Ventura County District Attorney's Office and agents from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. Known as VCCAT, it also works with the FBI and the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The men who were arrested in three separate recent operations are allegedly high level drug dealers, said Sheriff's Sgt. Alfred Bustillos, who is part of the taskforce.

"These are your importers and your money launderers," Bustillos said. "We are dealing directly with the upper eschelon."

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