All rights reserved. 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. They also found $966,000 in cash and seized five tractor-trailers. Hazell said the surveillance team obtained a warrant and searched the car, finding 20 kilograms of cocaine in the trunk. ET: This story has been updated with statements from Salinas Police Departmen press information officer Miguel Cabrera and Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni. or redistributed. 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. Updated 09/21/2021, 5:55 p.m. Meth bust at California border crossing is likely largest in U.S The one-story warehouse is located in an industrial park in Sylmar, a developing district on the northern edge of Los Angeles. The Facebook post noted that police believe the items seized were proceeds from the sale of the narcotics. Successful seizures like these save lives and reduce the exploitation and victimization of our local communities, Bodner said. According to the criminal complaint, on February 13th, the task force got a tip Clayton . appreciated. Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni told Newsweek that the investigation is ongoing to ensure everyone involved has been identified. / CBS News. 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. According to the agency, authorities had been investigating a cocaine and meth drug trafficking organization believed to be linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Saying they feared a possible attempt by drug traffickers to recover their contraband by force, Los Angeles police dispatched a SWAT team to the warehouse to provide extra security after the raids. 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. #KeepingYouSafe @SDSheriff K-9 Milo is a very good boy after helping our deputies and law enforcement partners make one of the biggest methamphetamine busts in #SanDiegoCounty history. Though it is typically used to treat severe pain, it is also used recreationally. 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 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. Authorities made one of the largest methamphetamine busts ever in San Diego County, seizing more than 5,000 pounds of the drug and arresting four Tijuana . The four men were arrested during the seizure and charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, classified as a schedule II controlled substance due to its high potential for dependency and recreational abuse. The Las Vegas Sun newspaper said that three Los Angeles men, one of them a former Mexican customs official, were arrested by DEA agents at an expensive Las Vegas hotel in connection with the seizure. More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine found in record-breaking Its going to bring tears to some peoples eyes, Gates said. Operation Sudden Fall - Wikipedia 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.. "The origins of the sheriffs department date back to 1850 when this was the Wild West," the sheriff said. Agents said the confiscated drugs will be inventoried at the warehouse before being taken to a federal facility for safekeeping. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! The search at the Sherman Oaks apartment turned up little, but Dist. The Medellin cartel has been blamed for a recent wave of violence against officials in Colombia. National correspondent Bill Melugin reports on the major drug raid allegedly tied to Mexican cartels. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. Hayley Smith covers breaking news in California with a focus on wildfires, drought and climate change. Record DEA bust could "provide a dose of meth for every man, woman and 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 investigation is continuing.. "This illegal activity is impacting the quality of life for residents and businesses and if left unaddressed will have long lasting and devastating affects in the region," Barger said. SAN DIEGO . East Bay pot bust likely 'largest in Bay Area history,' more than 37 The nation last year surpassed 100,000 overdoses in a 12-month period for the first time largely due to the drug, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The fate of NorCal Transportation remains unknown for now, but Cabrera hopes it is shut down. Mike Holm, a DEA agent in Los Angeles, said the SWAT team was called in to guard the warehouse because we had a large amount of money and drugs in there., We know the Colombians have made threats against law enforcement agencies, he said. Andres Jesus Morales, 30, and Christine Ponce, 27, were charged with four drug-related felonies with the intent to sell a controlled substance, the Riverside . Operation Sudden Fall was a 2008 joint operation between the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and San Diego State University (SDSU) campus police investigating drug abuse in the College Area of San Diego, California.It was the largest campus drug bust in San Diego County history and one of the largest college drug busts in U.S. history. Record-breaking drug bust made at Mexico border in California, Mexican Large quantities of the drug have been discovered in trucks that entered the country through the Otay Mesa commercial point of entry before. 6:23 AM EDT, Sat July 9, 2022. One bill would make it a felony to possess 2 or more grams of the synthetic opioid. 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. Authorities seize over 400 pounds of meth, cocaine and heroin in toolboxes at California border crossing. They allegedly seized 444 kilograms of cocaine, 157 kilograms of crystal meth, 427 kilograms of marijuana and 300 oxycodone pills. Join half a million readers enjoying Newsweek's free newsletters. More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in National City, California. We have to continue to do everything we can to combat this deadly drug epidemic and save lives.. 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. More than 170 law enforcement personnel aided in the search warrants and helped in the apprehension of the suspects. Theres a glut on the coke market, said the source, who requested anonymity. 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.. Drug bust: $33 million worth of meth found in historic DEA Los Angeles Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. "Synthetic drugs like methamphetamine are highly addictive, dangerous and killing people at alarming rates," said DEA Los Angeles Special Agent in Charge Bill Bodner. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth $677 mn, bound for Australia, intercepted The investigation into the drug trafficking organization remains ongoing. The Riverside Police Department raided Morales' and Ponce's home in Perris, California, on Aug. 17, where they found 46.2 pounds of carfentanil, 8.8 pounds of cocaine, and 2.2 pounds of heroin . DEA announces biggest meth bust in U.S. history in Southern California More than 200 locations were served with search warrants. 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. Nearly 375,000 marijuana plants and 33,480 pounds of harvested marijuana were seized, along with 65 vehicles, 180 animals and $28,000. ", "It was a team effort all the way around," he said. $1.19 billion worth of marijuana seized in massive drug bust in California 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. according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Opioid crisis settlements total over $50 billion. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. A Warner Bros. Zienter said the drugs apparently entered the United States at El Paso, Tex., probably in hidden compartments in two tractor-trailer rigs the ring was believed to have been using. The department brought in massive bulldozers to raid the scene, completely leveling the illegal grows and there are reportedly hundreds more to tackle. 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. Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. 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. DEA Acting Administrator Timothy J. Shea and other law enforcement officials displayed theevidence during a press conference at a DEA warehouse in Montebello.