Thread: 35 charged in SoCal drug smuggling ring

35 charged in SoCal drug smuggling ring

ASSOCIATED PRESS

1:56 p.m. October 8, 2008

SAN DIEGO – Federal indictments unsealed in San Diego charge 35 people with smuggling drugs to California from Mexico.
U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt said Wednesday that 19 of the 35 people indicted had been arrested. The others are at large.

During the 18-month investigation, authorities seized $10 million in cash, 1,500 pounds of cocaine, 1,600 pounds of marijuana and 371 pounds of methamphetamine.
Hewitt says the investigation focused on Mexicali, Mexico, and Calexico, Calif. She says the defendants worked for Mexico's notorious Sinaloa drug cartel

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metr ... ments.html

Drug trafficking cell members indicted

By Greg Moran
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

2:38 p.m. October 8, 2008

SAN DIEGO – Federal authorities announced Wednesday the indictments of 35 members of a half-dozen drug-trafficking cells that shuttled drugs north and cash south through Imperial County.
Operation Money Train (PDF)

The indictments focused on six distribution cells that ran drugs for a Mexican organization known as the Sinaloa cartel, U.S. Attorney Karen Hewitt said at a news conference.

In addition to capturing thousands of pounds of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamine, federal law enforcement also grabbed more than $9.5 million in cash.

That represents the largest amount of currency seized in the history of the U.S. Attorney's Office here, which also covers Imperial County, she said.

So far 19 people have been arrested, including four people who were arrested in Mexico. An additional 16 suspects remain at large, she said.

The investigation, dubbed “Operation Money Train,â€