Thread: A half million dollars worth of cocaine is off the street

It's being reported on KXL Radio that most of the people arrested in this bust are suspected illegal aliens and will likely be deported after they finish any sentences handed down. Remember, they're all just good people trying to make a better life in America. Too bad they try to make our lives worse while they're at it. How gutless is KGW (in the second version of the story below)? They mention nothing about the immigration status of these scumbags.

A half million dollars worth of cocaine is off the street

http://www.kxl.com/tabid/72/itemid/1776 ... f-the.aspx

A half million dollars worth of cocaine is off the street and 33 people accused of being involved in a massive Mexican drug ring are behind bars, awaiting prosecution and/or deportation. Oregon Attorney General John Kroger says they were arrested at 19 locations in Washington and Clackamas Counties after an investigation that took nearly two years.

Ore. AG says drug bust 1 of largest in state

06/05/2009

By WILLIAM McCALL / Associated Press

http://www.kgw.com/sharedcontent/APStor ... N5E80.html

Oregon Attorney General John Kroger says a nearly two-year investigation into Mexican drug trafficking began with a single tip and resulted in one of the largest racketeering cases in state history.

The drug ring was centered in Washington County and the west suburbs of Portland, where dozens of arrests were made last week and 32 people were indicted on various criminal charges, including racketeering charges that carry heavy penalties.

"Oregon has a serious drug problem," Kroger said. "And that drug problem has a huge impact on our state. It costs us hundreds of millions of dollars every year."

He said the costs include law enforcement, prisons, health care, child abuse and damage to the economy from reduced worker productivity.

Kroger said Mexican drug cartels that run their operations like multibillion-dollar corporations are behind most of the trafficking even though "the root cause is our demand for drugs."

He was joined at a news conference Friday in Hillsboro by representatives of various state and federal law enforcement agencies who turned a single tip about a small drug case in Eastern Oregon in the fall of 2007 into a massive investigation called "Operation Corridor Express."

"Instead of simply following up that tip and making a single arrest, the law enforcement community went after this group aggressively with a huge number of search warrants and with wiretaps, and the result has been a remarkable case," Kroger said.

Police seized more than 22 kilograms of cocaine worth about a half million dollars, 10 guns and five vehicles.

Kroger said the challenge in a major drug investigation is to get beyond the street-level dealers and "aggressively push evidence up the chain."

"These organizations are very focused and very disciplined," he said. "They are intentionally set up to operate in ways to make infiltration and investigation and prosecution extraordinarily difficult."

Kroger said the racketeering charges symbolize the seriousness of the case and allow prosecutors to present evidence about the operations of an entire group rather than being limited to single individuals who may have been part of that group.

The Oregon Department of Justice will prosecute the racketeering cases while district attorneys in counties where related arrests were made will handle those cases.

I am always thrilled when the good guys get drugs off the of our streets! Just think how many lives they saved!