Thread: Mexican meth ring broken, police say

Published: 01.27.2007
Mexican meth ring broken, police say
RYN GARGULINSKI
Tucson Citizen
A "Mexican cartel" that police say flooded Tucson streets with hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine has been busted, said Tucson Police Department Capt. David Neri.
What police call the Patricia Loya drug-trafficking organization has been under investigation since September. The investigation was closed Jan. 17 and resulted in 24 arrests or indictments, police said.
In addition to 1.5 kilograms of meth, authorities seized 1.8 kilograms of cocaine, two weapons and 10 vehicles, the police report said.
The organization is named for one of the alleged main players, Patricia Loya, 47, who was arrested on 17 counts, all related to drug trafficking.
The organization was distributing drugs from her midtown apartment near Fifth Street and Alvernon Way, Neri said.
Other core members have been indicted on charges including drug conspiracy, drug distribution, money laundering and weapons misconduct, according to a TPD report.
"This was clearly a Mexican cartel," Neri said, adding that members smuggled the drug across the border and distributed as much as 2 1/2 pounds per week.
"One pound is good for 1,810 doses," Neri said, adding that a dose is about one-quarter of a gram. "Two and a half pounds is a huge amount."
They smuggled an average of 17 pounds per trip, hidden in places such as a high-tech, pop-out metal compartment concealed in a vehicle's rear seat, he said.
The average dose sells for $40, Neri said, and the meth confiscated from the Loya group was 75 percent pure.
"The higher rate of purity of the meth, the closer we are to the top," said Neri, adding meth on the street is often 60 percent pure.
Of the 24 suspects either arrested or indicted, Neri said, two were suppliers, four were distributors, and the rest were "street runners."
The local Counter Narcotics Alliance and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration began to investigate the Loya ring last year, thanks to tips from the Meth Free Alliance, a Pima County group composed of community leaders and members and law enforcement and established in 2005.
The Loya organization is the fifth drug ring broken up in Tucson in the past two years, Neri said.
He said this one was unique because it did not manufacture the meth, as did the other four.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/40052.php

All this notoriety about the arrest of the local Patricia Loya, but she was arrested on December 2nd per court records, given a measly bond of BOND AMOUNT : $3,300.00 which has long either been posted or eliminated and she's not in the jail today, because I checked!