Thread: CBP seized over $700,000 worth of Marijuana

07.12.07
CBP seized over $700,000 worth of Marijuana

July 12, 2007 03:01 PM PDT




EL PASO, TX - Customs and Border Protection officials seized over $700,000 worth of marijuana in ten seizures at border crossings Wednesday.

Border Officials tell ABC-7 six of the ten seizures were made at the downtown Paso Del Norte port of entry. Three seizures were made at the Ysleta crossing and one seizure was made at the Bridge of the Americas.

Thorough inspections at the ports of entry throughout the day resulted in the discovery of drug loads in a wide variety of hidden compartments in the vehicles.

Three man and three women were arrested at the Paso del Norte port of entry.

A 59-year-old man was arrested after 37 pounds of the drug were found hidden in the fuel tank of his truck.

A 20-year-old El Paso woman was arrested after 99 pounds of the drug were found on the sidewalls and spare tire of a 2007 Ford F-150 she was driving.

A 41-year-old San Elizario man was arrested after 49 pounds of the drug were found in the rocker panels of his 1993 Pontiac Bonneville.

A 19-year-old woman from Chihuahua, Mexico was arrested after 66 pounds of the drug were found inside the back seat of a 2002 Chevrolet truck she was driving.

A 57-year-old Albaquerque man was arrested after 30 pounds of the drug were found inside the tool box and air vents of a 1995 Dodge Ram he was driving.

Officials also arrested a 40-year-old Juarez woman after 110 pounds of the drug were discovered inside the dashboard of her 1992 Mercury Grand Marquis.

One El Paso man and two Juarez women were arrested at the Ysleta port of entry.

A 47-year-old El Paso man was arrested after 77 pounds of the drug were found in the fuel tank of his 1998 Chevrolet truck.

A 32-year-old Juarez woman was arrested after 84 pounds of the drug were found inside the center console of a 1993 Ford Bronco she was driving.

A 19-year-old Juarez woman was also arrested after 66 pounds of the drug were found inside the tires of 1989 Nissan Maxima she was driving.

Agents at the Bridge of the Americas arrested a 27-year-old El Paso woman after 86 pounds of marijuana were found in the fuel tank and rear seat of a 1997 Ford F-150 truck she was driving.




















All content © Copyright 2002 - 2007 WorldNow and KVIA. All Rights Reserved.
For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.


http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=6781468&nav=AbC0

Here's our daily news...

9 Valley residents indicted in drug case
By John Ellis / The Fresno Bee
07/12/07 04:19:05

Federal authorities Wednesday said they had broken up a major drug trafficking organization with ties to the Nuestra Familia prison gang.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Sacramento announced a federal grand jury indictment Wednesday against more than two dozen people from across Northern and Central California, and one person from Ohio. They were part of an investigation spearheaded by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Stockton Violent Crime Task Force.

That indictment follows a June 7 indictment unsealed in Fresno that named eight people -- five from Bakersfield and three from Fontana, a city in San Bernardino County. The earlier indictment came from a Drug Enforcement Agency investigation that focused on Bakersfield.

"This is a monster case," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar, one of the federal prosecutors on the case.

She said the case is significant because it alleges that those facing charges aren't just street-level drug dealers but are in higher positions of authority in the gang.

The two indictments came from separate drug investigations that joined together after authorities shared information and noticed similarities and connections, Escobar said.

Federal authorities said the DEA's investigation -- dubbed "Operation Dictator" -- focused on the activities of Fidel Ramon Castro, a 33-year-old convicted drug trafficker who operated an urban clothing store called Geez Clothing in Bakersfield.

They allege that Castro and his associates obtained cocaine smuggled into Southern California from Mexico and then sold it to drug trafficking organizations. One of those organizations was the Mario Diaz Drug Trafficking Organization.

At that time, the FBI's Stockton Violent Crime Task Force along with the San Joaquin County Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force and the Stockton Police Department were conducting an investigation dubbed "Operation Valley Star," which was looking at the Diaz operation.

Authorities say the Diaz operation was responsible for distributing large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and ecstasy throughout Northern and Central California, with distribution channels reaching to other U.S. cities such as Warren, Ohio, and Atlanta, Ga.

The Diaz operation, authorities said, operated under the Nuestra Familia, a violent Hispanic prison gang based within the California prison system whose members exert control over street-level Norteño gang members engaged in drug trafficking and violent crime.

Diaz operated an urban clothing store in Los Banos with the same name as Castro's shop in Bakersfield -- Geez Clothing.

Authorities seized more than 30 kilograms of cocaine, 200 marijuana plants and around 150 pounds of methamphetamine in the two investigations. Also seized were an Uzi submachine gun, five vehicles and around $80,000 in cash.

Among those indicted were nine central San Joaquin Valley residents: Diaz, 34, Jason Michael Stewart Hanson, 33, Alvaro Cobain Gomez, 37, Andrea Cadena, 29, and Valdemar Salazar Cambunga, 49, all of Los Banos; Larry Sixto Amaro, 40, of Hanford; Edward Fuentes, 27, of Merced; Ernesto Bravo Tejeda, 37, of Madera; Leo Torres, 34, of Dos Palos.

Nobody arrested in the massive drug bust was from Fresno, but Fresno police detective Tony Gates, a detective in the Multi-Agency Gang Enforcement Consortium -- an anti-gang squad -- said Fresno's Bulldog gang grew out of the Norteño gang, and Fresno still has a Norteño presence.

"Fresno was a Norteño town in the '70s," Gates said. In the mid- to late-'80s the Bulldogs broke away, he said, because they didn't believe in the ranked structure prevalent with the Norteños.
The reporter can be reached at jellis@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6320.