Crystal meth bust called city's biggest
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... &cset=true
Crystal meth bust called city's biggest
By David Heinzmann
Tribune staff reporter
Published May 17, 2005
Mexican drug cartels are always doing business in Chicago, but knowing just when and where is extremely difficult, police say.
Traffickers are often here just long enough to receive a shipment of drugs and distribute it before vanishing back to Mexico or the southwest United States.
Busting two suspected Sinoloa cartel operatives as they moved 35 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 20 kilograms of cocaine out of a Southwest Side garage last week turned out to be the biggest crystal meth seizure in Chicago history, said Deputy Chief John Risley, who heads the gang and narcotics division.
Still, police say similar amounts of the drug move through Chicago very frequently.
Acting on a tip, police staked out a house in the 5100 block of South Kilpatrick Avenue and arrested two men driving cars away from the house Friday. Both vehicles had secret compartments packed with drugs, police said.
Porfiro Salazar, 34, of the 5100 block of South Knox Avenue was driving a white Nissan Altima with 40 bricks of crystal meth packed inside the passenger-side airbag compartment, police said.
Sergio Valdez, 37, of Oakbrook Terrace, was driving a red Chrysler Concorde with an elaborate secret compartment built into the trunk and a special trap door in the back seat, police said.
Both men, who are Mexican nationals, were charged with drug possession and having vehicles with illegal hidden compartments. The cars they were driving were registered locally to other people, according to state records. Police said they are continuing to investigate.
An investigator said Valdez had brought the drugs to the Southwest Side from his "safe house" in Oakbrook Terrace. A search of his Oakbrook Terrace residence uncovered 21 more bricks of crystal meth and 20 kilos of cocaine.
Police said they do not believe any of the crystal meth was destined for street sales in Chicago. Most of the crystal meth use in the city is centered on the North Side and is supplied by small, more local, manufacturers.
The Mexican meth is manufactured in industrial-scale "super labs" in Mexico and is distributed through Chicago, mainly to rural areas in the Midwest where there is a long-standing demand for the drug, an investigator said.
