Agents said the front 15 feet or so had been partitioned off as a secret compartment in which cocaine could be hidden from inspectors, making it appear only bric-a-brac was being hauled. Heavy security was employed Friday afternoon as the seized cash was deposited at a downtown Los Angeles bank. SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Two alleged drug dealers were behind bars Wednesday after what Orange County authorities described as the largest drug bust in the past 16 years. 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The 10-day sting is the largest eradication of illegal marijuana cultivations in the history of the department. Norfolk Southern train derails in Springfield, Ohio, At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, Trump speaks at CPAC after winning straw poll, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant to "take some time away" from the team after allegedly brandishing a gun in a club, How Paul Murdaugh testified "from the grave" to help convict his father, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Promising drug could provide alternative to statins, new study finds, Iran to allow more inspections at nuclear sites, U.N. says, NTSB to investigate in-flight turbulence that left 1 passenger dead, Largest meth bust in DEA history made in California. The men were charged with importation and distribution of narcotics, the Sun said. / CBS News. Its more like powder on the football field.. One of the largest drug busts in Monterey County, California history was pulled off when nearly $2 million worth of illegal drugs were seized by Salinas police and federal agents, as reported by KSBW Action News. Reach her at tori.powell@viacomcbs.com, First published on July 7, 2021 / 8:12 PM. Three additional arrests reportedly occurred in Las Vegas Friday. RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. - Federal agents announced what they called the largest methamphetamine bust in domestic U.S. history Wednesday, displaying a 10- foot high pile of the confiscated drug representing a haul of more than 2,200 pounds seized at stash houses in Riverside County, along with cocaine and heroin. Los Angeles, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, Randall Emmett, Ambyr Childers settle domestic violence restraining order dispute. L.A. Affairs: My divorce isnt contagious. Sept. 30, 1989 12 AM PT Times Staff Writers In what was described as the largest narcotics haul ever, federal agents seized almost 20 tons of cocaine--worth up to $6 billion on the street--at a. ET: This story has been updated with statements from Salinas Police Departmen press information officer Miguel Cabrera and Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni. The drugs were intended for distribution in Southern California, including Los Angeles, according to DEA officials, who displayed the haul at the agency's warehouse in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles County. Sheriff Alex Villanueva has since launched an operation with up to 500 deputies and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to hunt down and destroy other marijuana plantations. The investigation into the drug trafficking organization remains ongoing. Agents tracked the group to a spot in San Diego County's National City after noticing that a 20-foot-long commercial box truck had crossed the border between Mexico and the U.S. through an entry point in Otay Mesa, near Tijuana. Though it is typically used to treat severe pain, it is also used recreationally. 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth $677 mn, bound for Australia, intercepted in country's biggest drug bust. The drug is often mixed with cocaine and methamphetamine, and many victims do not know they are ingesting fentanyl. The search at the Sherman Oaks apartment turned up little, but Dist. NBC4 news is delivered across the main broadcast on channel4, at www.nbcla.com, and through multiple interactive social media platforms 24/7. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. The Los Angeles-area bust - an estimated $15 million to $20 million in street value - came just days after Mexican authorities seized more than a half a ton of fentanyl in the state of Sinaloa.. "This record-breaking bust is the largest seizure of fentanyl pills DEA has made in California," the news release said. Either they feel awfully secure, or this (loss) isnt that significant to them, said John Zienter, special agent in charge of the DEAs Los Angeles office. By clicking Sign Up, I confirmthat I have read and agreeto the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. An attorney for the men did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Click here for mor. More than 170 law enforcement personnel aided in the search warrants and helped in the apprehension of the suspects. Law enforcement followed the vehicle to National City, California, where agents saw the accused men unloading dozens of cardboard boxes from the truck into a Dodge van. More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in National City, California. July 9, 2021 / 10:14 AM Last year, officials seized more than 3 million fentanyl pills in Los . The eight face charges that include conspiracy to transport and distribute narcotics, firearms possession, gang enhancement and conspiracy to commit murder. The CBP confirmed that the drug seizures were the largest busts in the U.S. for both meth and fentanyl for this year and last year, prosecutors said. Los Angeles, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Calmes: Heres what we should do about Marjorie Taylor Greene, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids, At least 5 people shot near San Pedro beach, Safety concerns and weather conditions hamper San Bernardino County relief efforts, ICE detainees allege retaliation for speaking about medical conditions at Otay Mesa center, Downtown L.A stabbing sends six to hospital; suspect arrested, San Diego Roman Catholic diocese facing yet another lawsuit from its insurance company. Detectives found that the average size per cultivation at farms increased to 15 greenhouses, up from eight per farm in the year prior. She called on the district attorney to prosecute those arrested in the operation. Click here for more: http://4.nbcla.com/SV3zVBrDont miss an NBCLA video, subscribe here: https://bit.ly/2NnofFFFor more, visit NBCLA.COM here: https://bit.ly/2uB6niEOn Facebook: https://bit.ly/2uFU1pxOn Twitter: https://bit.ly/2JsBm5YAbout NBCLAThe West Coast flagship station of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, serving the vast region since 1949. The 20-foot commercial truck, which was carrying 148 meth bundles, crossed the border Thursday through the Otay Mesa Commercial Port of Entry in San Diego, the US Attorneys Office said in a statement. The operation found that NorCal Transportation was directly connected to the Sinaloa Cartel. On Oct. 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped a truck crossing from Mexico into the United States at San Diego's Otay Mesa and found 3,014 pounds of methamphetamine, the agency said Sunday.. "This is enough dope to prove a dose of meth for every man, women and child in the United States and Mexico," DEA Acting Administrator Timothy Shea said. Together, they worked on the five-month investigation they named Operation Black Hawk into NorCal Transportation. How is that money being used? How Alaska became one of fentanyl's deadliest frontiers, FDA panel backs allowing a naloxone spray to be sold over-the-counter, Biden to tout fentanyl smuggling crackdown in State of the Union. Authorities in Southern California have seized more than 16 tons of marijuana worth an estimated $1.19 billion, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said Wednesday. ", "It was a team effort all the way around," he said. "This is an issue that is plaguing, and will continue to plague, if we do not make it very uncomfortable and one way to make it uncomfortable is to prosecute," Barger said. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. This month the DEA made the biggest meth bust in American history: 2200 pounds of meth, nearly 900 pounds of cocaine, and 13 pounds of heroin. The fate of NorCal Transportation remains unknown for now, but Cabrera hopes it is shut down. The operation, which began on June 8, resulted in 22 felony arrests, 109 misdemeanor arrests, and 19 arrests from water theft enforcement teams, officials said. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, Winter storms ease drought conditions in California, report shows, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, Best coffee city in the world? All rights reserved. NBC4 produces 43 hours each week of local news and weather, and the station features the largest award-winning investigative unit in Southern California. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- In what Alameda County Sheriff's Office is calling the largest pot bust in Bay Area history, more than 37 tons of plants, tens of millions of dollars in. 30-year-old Dalton Clayton is charged with possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and other counts. Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department documented the biggest drug bust in its history on Tuesday and officials expect Mexican cartels are to blame. Stacked against one wall, in cardboard boxes and black gymnasium bags, was approximately $10 million in cash, most of it in $20 and $100 bills. DEA CNN More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized this week after authorities in San Diego. Hayley Smith covers breaking news in California with a focus on wildfires, drought and climate change. This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States, said Shelly S. Howe, a Special Agent in Charge at the US Drug Enforcement Administration. The record discovery also makes clear that patterns of international cocaine smuggling have shifted dramatically, Gutensohn said. These middlemen are responsible for moving drugs through Central America and over the Southwest border into the United States. They worked with authorities in Arizona and it started to grow. They seemed to be making an awful lot of money. The smugglers then deliver the cocaine to Colombian traffickers in major cities. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. A record meth bust part of a national operation was announced Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020. Large quantities of the drug have been discovered in trucks that entered the country through the Otay Mesa commercial point of entry before. Read the news release here: https://t.co/BOdi19XyJO #Teamwork @HSISanDiego @DEASANDIEGODiv pic.twitter.com/v68GWLy42O, First published on July 11, 2022 / 9:03 AM. Massive federal drug bust, likely the largest in the Bay Area, nets 1,000 pounds of meth, 44 suspects Michael Cabanatuan Feb. 11, 2021 Updated: Feb. 11, 2021 6:45 p.m. 2. One of the largest drug busts in Monterey County, California history was pulled off when nearly $2 million worth of illegal drugs were seized by Salinas police and federal agents, as. National correspondent Bill Melugin reports on the major drug raid allegedly tied to Mexican cartels. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the seizure represents about 5% of the worlds annual production of the drug--more cocaine than growers in Peru, the worlds largest supplier, can produce in a month. Discovery Company. One bill would make it a felony to possess 2 or more grams of the synthetic opioid. We wanted SWAT.. The article reported that synthetic opioids are the most common substances involved in drug overdose deaths in the United States. This is the cartels. Meth is a highly addictive stimulant that usually takes the form of a powder. March 4 (UPI) --Australian police on Saturday revealed the details of an operation that intercepted $1 billion worth of cocaine in the country's biggest-ever drug bust. Western Australia Police . With fentanyl driving fatal overdoses to record levels in the United States, state governments are scrambling for solutions. Until the seizure in Sylmar, the largest haul occurred on March 10, 1984, when officials seized 11 tons of cocaine in Tranquilandia, Colombia. The Sylmar haul--weighing about a much as the trash in two fully laden Department of Sanitation trucks--was roughly four times the total amount of cocaine seized throughout Los Angeles in all of 1988. "The biggest thanks is going to have to go to my detectives for their hard work," said Acting Salinas Police Chief Roberto Filice. The DEA's big bust came just a week before another huge meth seizure. Both vehicles allegedly contained about 148 bundles of a material that tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the statement. Sign up for FOX 11s Fast 5 newsletter. Just north of L.A. in Antelope Valley, California, officials tracked down, identified and destroyed 70 to 80 outhouses filled with illegal marijuana plots in the open desert. According to the criminal complaint, on February 13th, the task force got a tip Clayton . Another was arrested at about the same time at the Marriott Hotel in Woodland Hills. Updated A tip from an informant led to a record drug bust. They were too well-dressed to operate a warehouse business., Federal agents declined to identify the informant who tipped them, but Curt Hazell, a deputy district attorney in Los Angeles, described him as someone with great instincts for business practices, who knows when he is seeing something about a business like this that is not right.. Villanueva revealed to Fox News that these locations are hot spots for criminal behavior with reports of cartel members threatening residents with firearms. Four men from Tijuana, Mexico, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute the highly addictive drug in what officials described as one of the largest meth busts in San Diego County. An international drug ring was busted following a joint operation between the US and . The raids followed a tip from a neighborhood businessman who saw activities that didnt look quite right at the warehouse where, according to authorities, an import business dealing in inexpensive ceramics, paintings and other bric-a-brac was operated as a front. Officials declined to say how many more people they were seeking. Millions of unsuspecting people have the grim reaper looking over their shoulder and they have no idea how close they actually are to dying from taking a single pill, Orange County Dist. On Oct. 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped a truck crossing from Mexico into the United States at San Diego's Otay Mesa and found 3,014 pounds (1,367.1 kilograms) of methamphetamine, the agency said Sunday. All rights reserved. Ira Reiner said that when the officers entered the warehouse in Sylmar and shined their flashlights about the room, they couldnt believe their eyes.. One of the trailers was still parked by the warehouse door on Friday. The department brought in massive bulldozers to raid the scene, completely leveling the illegal grows and there are reportedly hundreds more to tackle. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Federal authorities on Wednesday showed off results of Southern California raids early this month that led to the biggest domestic seizure of methamphetamine in U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration history. All Rights Reserved. Local authorities charged a California man and woman Thursday in a massive drug bust that found more than 46 pounds of a lethal and potent synthetic opioid, multiple sources reported. ATM thieves use glue and 'tap' function to drain accounts at Chase, Alpine Village in Torrance closes after more than five decades, Gas prices rise for 31st consecutive day in LA County. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. pic.twitter.com/y21yWExTT9. And, get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. In April, US Customs and Border Protection officers in California seized more than 400 pounds of meth, cocaine and heroin concealed in toolboxes that were being transported to the country. According to the agency, authorities had been investigating a cocaine and meth drug trafficking organization believed to be linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Why are people treating me this way? Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni told Newsweek that the investigation is ongoing to ensure everyone involved has been identified. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the impacts of illegal marijuana cultivation by cartels include water theft, human trafficking, pollution and threats to safety and security. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The Medellin cartel has been blamed for a recent wave of violence against officials in Colombia. Nearly 375,000 marijuana plants and 33,480 pounds of harvested marijuana were seized, along with 65 vehicles, 180 animals and $28,000. That is what's coming.". The cocaine was to be held as evidence and then burned, officials said. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. All rights reserved, Authorities: 37 Pounds of Meth Found in Driver's Spare Tire, Second-Largest Border Meth Bust in History Announced, CBP Finds $3.9 Million Worth of Meth, Cocaine in Boulders at Tecate Crossing, Check Your Pockets: These Coins Can Be Worth Up To $24,000, Glendale Neighborhood Frustrated After an Illegal Hostel Moves In, NASA Images Show Southern California Mountains Before and After Winter Storm, Tax Deadlines Extended to October for Most Californians Due to Storms. Employees of a construction business adjacent to the warehouse at 12898 Bradley St. said about four or five Spanish-speaking men--friendly, well-dressed, clean-cut and well mannered--rented the place about two years ago and began doing business. The L.A. plantations also hog water from local alfalfa, carrot, and potato farmers. "What we want to do is send a clear and loud message to the cartels and anyone doing an illegal operation in the high desert: Your days are over and we're coming for you," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. The suspects identified as 37-year-old Rafael Alzua, 41-year-old Galdrino Contreras, 41-year-old Mario Contreras, and 44-year-old Ethgar Velazquez are accused of attempting to transport large quantities of meth after police found them unloading a vehicle filled with the illegal substance on Thursday. Teachers learn to administer Narcan amid opioid crisis. Major Joint-Operation underway in the High Desert to take down Illegal Cartel Operated Marijuana Groves impacting farmers, families, and businesses. The coke you can replace.. CULVER CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- Authorities made one of the largest drug busts in Los Angeles County history recently, seizing meth and cocaine with a street value of nearly $60 million, officials say. Also seized were 893 pounds (405 kilograms) of cocaine and 13 pounds (5.9 kilograms) of heroin. appreciated. Opioid crisis settlements total over $50 billion. Shortly before 2 p.m., a small force of heavily armed DEA agents--accompanied overhead by two police helicopters--blocked traffic on Main Street while depositing the money at a Bank of America branch. The next morning, the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office announced the 34 arrests and the seizure of 3,164 pounds of methamphetamine the biggest drug bust in the county's history, and one of the largest ever in the nation. The price is going to go up.. One was arrested early Friday at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Todd Spitzer said in a statement about the bust. Stranded Lake Arrowhead residents, including Michelle Calkins, are pleading for help on social media as the community continues to run out of food, medication, and deal with gas leak concerns. "It is an indication of what law enforcement agencies can do to take down a drug trafficking organization such as this one if we devote the time necessary to get to the end result.". Nonetheless, several law enforcement figures, among them Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, said the amount seized was sufficient to affect the cocaine market, at least temporarily. This seizure should put to rest any further speculation that Los Angeles is, in fact, the major pathway for cocaine entering the country, Ralph Lochridge, a local DEA spokesman, said. The investigation led to search warrants at multiple narcotic stash houses in Moreno Valley and Perris in Riverside County, officials said. Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, is as much as 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which on Wednesday released a letter warning state and federal law enforcement agencies that the drug was driving a nationwide spike of mass overdose events amid the worsening opioid epidemic. A tip from an informant led to a record drug bust. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California alleges that agents then saw the men removing dozens of cardboard boxes from the truck and into a Dodge van. Charles P. Gutensohn, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administrations cocaine investigations section in Washington, said Friday that the Sylmar drug bust appeared to have uncovered a major hand-off point used by Mexican smugglers to deliver cocaine to Colombian distributors, whose networks extend across the United States. Monterey County Weekly reported that officials seized 60 pounds of methamphetamine, five pounds of heroin, 1.5 pounds of cocaine, 25,000 fentanyl pills and nine firearms. As some of the officers secured the warehouse and began itemizing its contents, others fanned out to search for missing suspects, at least some of whom had remained under surveillance. Officers also seized 821 pounds of methamphetamine and 189.7 pounds of cocaine after pulling over the minivan leaving a Buena Park home.