News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 04, 2011
Contact: Special Agent Tony Pettigrew
Number: 617-557-2138

DEA Task Force Operation Takes Down Alleged Bridgeport Drug Trafficking Ring

APR 04 - (HARTFORD, Ct.) – Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration for New England and David B. Fein, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Steven W. Derr, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration, New England Field Division, today announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Hartford has returned a five-count indictment charging 15 individuals with various federal narcotics distribution offenses stemming from their alleged involvement in a drug trafficking that was responsible for the large-scale distribution of heroin, cocaine and oxycodone in and around Bridgeport. The indictment was returned on March 31, and 13 of defendants were arrested today.

The indictment and today’s arrests are the culmination of a six-month joint investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Bridgeport High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force and the Bridgeport Police Department’s Tactical Narcotics Team. The investigation included the use of court-authorized wiretaps and physical surveillance. In association with today’s arrests, law enforcement officers executed seven search warrants and seized heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, approximately $60,000 in cash and one firearm.

Charged in various counts of the indictment are:
JOSE ARZUAGA, 60, a.k.a. “Viejo,â€