Thread: TX-Officials say bus companies transported drugs from Mexico

Officials say bus companies transported drugs from Mexico

Associated Press - April 23, 2008 4:15 PM ET

HOUSTON (AP) - Eighteen people have been indicted on charges of transporting cocaine and marijuana aboard commercial buses that ferried passengers between Mexico and the U.S.

Officials in Houston said Wednesday that the owners and managers of 5 bus companies operated their businesses as fronts for transporting drugs. People hired as bus drivers and loaders delivered the drugs that were hidden in secret compartments, officials say.

The bus companies accused of taking part in the drug smuggling - Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-MEX and Ameri-Mex - have offices in Monterrey, Mexico; Rio Grande City; Roma; San Antonio; and Houston.

All 18 people are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and marijuana and each faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S= ... v=menu69_3

Now WHY would anyone be surprised that this is happening??? Is anyone checking the trucks that DOT is letting in?

Originally Posted by miguelina

Now WHY would anyone be surprised that this is happening??? Is anyone checking the trucks that DOT is letting in?

NO and they are not going to, they should not be surprised at all about how they get drugs into the U.S.

Those trucks not only have drugs they are full of illegals.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5725198.html


Probe of Mexican buses allegedly used to smuggle drugs yields 18 charges

By CINDY GEORGE
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Comments (46)

An alleged Mexican drug importation ring that used modified commercial buses to smuggle cocaine and marijuana to Houston, Dallas and other U.S. cities has resulted in charges against 18 people, federal officials said in a news conference Wednesday.

A 16-count federal indictment unsealed today charges the defendants with drug trafficking and money laundering among other felonies that carry penalties up to life in prison.

At least nine defendants, including several from the Houston area, were arrested Wednesday. The list included drivers, loaders, managers and operators leasing the buses.

Authorities were alerted in 2001 about allegations that passenger bus services were fronts for drug smuggling into the United States. Officials from a variety of agencies opened an investigation in 2003. The probe, marked by inspections and seizures, was nicknamed Operation Road King II and continued through last month.

So far, authorities believe at least seven buses were converted to contain hidden compartments for drugs.

Dealers paid $500 to get one kilo of cocaine from south of the border to Houston and as much as $7,000 to get the same load all the way to New York.

Officials seized 570 kilograms of cocaine, 3,000 pounds of marijuana and thousands in cash, U.S. Attorney Don DeGabrielle said.

White House Drug Czar John Walters, in Houston for the announcement, said this case shows officials are "taking meat off the bone" and forcing smugglers to resort to sophisticated schemes to avoid detection.

"They are paying sums they never paid before because it's more dangerous to bring drugs into the United States because we are creating more risk at the border and inside the United States," Walters said. "For the first time, the aggregate amount of cocaine coming into the United States — the aggregate amount of (methamphetamine) coming into the United States — is no longer the level that is meeting consumption a year ago."

DeGabrielle said innocent passengers who booked seats on the buses were in potential danger, but traveled unharmed.

cindy.george@chron.com

Details of Operation Road King

05:00 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 23, 2008

By Michelle Homer / KHOU.com

More details from Operation Road King, the multi-agency investigation that led to the indictments of 18 people accused of using commercial buses to funnel drugs from Mexico into Houston and other U.S. cities.



Feds: Houston bus companies transported illegal drugs from Mexico

Five bus company owners indicted:

Abel Trevino, 43, Houston (arrested in Houston)

Victor Hinojosa, 41, Houston (arrested in Houston)

Miguel Montemayor, 39, resident alien in Roma, Texas (arrested in Houston)

Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado aka "El Gordo", 42, resident alien in Brookshire (outstanding warrant)

Eduardo Trevino aka "Lalo", 41, Linares, Mexico (outstanding warrant)


Accused co-conspirators hired as bus drivers to transport and deliver:

Jesse Trevino, 48, resident alien in Houston (arrested in Houston)

Victor Rocha, 39, resident alien in Dickinson (arrested in Houston)

Alejandro Carmargo-Guerra, 59, resident alien in Houston (arrested in Waco)

Leticia Endedina Fournier, 58, Houston (outstanding warrant)

Enrique Alvaro Saldano aka "El Muneco", 53, resident alien in Roma, Texas (outstanding warrant)


Accused of utilizing and paying:

Rafael Armando Ramirez, 32, illegal immigrant in Houston area (outstanding warrant)


Other suspects:

Guadalupe Karr Cortez

Guadalupe Castaneda aka "La Boa"

Edward Cirilo

Eduardo Salinas

Jose Armando Muniz aka "Guero"

Luis Larios

Roberto Salazar Rivera






The breakdown:

Authorities have recovered 575 kilos of cocaine, 300 pounds of marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash in Houston.

They found 1,100 pounds of marijuana in Joliet Illinois.

They confiscated 200 kilos of cocaine in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The 16-count indictment includes 15 counts of drug-related charges and one count of money laundering.

http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/ ... 811ce.html

And the good news is, under forfeiture laws, the United States now owns 5 bus lines we can use to deport illegal aliens.

"Walk softly, and carry a big stick." Teddy Roosevelt

Bus companies indicted in plot to smuggle drugs


April 26, 2008


By Jerry Seper - Owners, managers and drivers of a fleet of commercial bus companies operating out of Mexico through southern Texas to numerous U.S. cities have been indicted in an international scheme to transport marijuana and cocaine into the United States.

The 16-count indictment, filed in a long-term undercover investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) known as "Operation Road King II," was returned by a Houston grand jury on March 31 and unsealed yesterday at a press conference in Houston.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Rusty Payne said the indictment describes the use of specially-modified commercial buses by drug traffickers interested in smuggling contraband into the U.S. from Monterrey, Mexico, or transporting contraband from the Rio Grande Valley to Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

The indictment accuses the owners and managers of the Transtar, Neptune Tours, Los Primos, USA-MEX and Ameri-Mex commercial bus companies in Monterrey and the Texas cities of Rio Grande City, Roma, San Antonio and Houston with using their companies as fronts for their drug transport services, and hiring drivers and loaders to transport the illegal cargo in hidden compartments built into the bus or in areas not accessible to the public.

In exchange for the services, the indictment said the owners and managers received thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the proceeds of the drug loads. It said the drug transport service had been in operation since at least November 2001 and was responsible for transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and thousands of pounds of marijuana from the border to points north.

Mr. Payne said millions of dollars in drug proceeds were sent to Mexico. He said more than 570 kilograms of cocaine, 3,000 pounds of marijuana and the thousands of dollars in cash were seized by U.S. agents.

The indictment identified Abel Trevino Jr., 43, of Houston; Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado, 42, of Brookshire, Texas; Miguel Montemayor, 39, of Roma, Texas; Victor Hinojosa, 41, of Houston; and Eduardo Trevino, 40, of Linares, Mexico, as the owners and managers of the bus companies.

According to the indictment, the owners and managers charged from $500 per kilogram of cocaine bound for the U.S. side of the border to $7,000 per kilogram of cocaine bound for New York.

The indictment also said the owner and managers discussed ways to operate their buses to protect themselves from detection by law enforcement including changing the names of the bus companies as loads of cocaine and marijuana were seized.

The 18 suspects — owners, managers and drivers — are charged with conspiring to possess cocaine and marijuana with intent to distribute them; they face from 10 years to life imprisonment if convicted. Most also are charged with conspiracy to launder drug proceeds as well as with aiding and abetting drug dealing.

www.washingtontimes.com