Tag Archives: Drug Enforcement Administration

Puerto Rican Fugitives Arrested by HSI for Drug Trafficking and Weapons Violations

October 19, 2012blogarrest, criminal, criminal activity, drug, Drug Enforcement Administration, drug ring, drug smuggling, drug trade, drug trafficking, drugs, FBI, fugitive, gun control, guns, HSI, ICE, Metropolitan Detention Center, money laundering, narcotics, Operation Lighthouse, Puerto Rico, US Marshals Service, USMS, Violent Offenders Task Force, weapons, weapons violationsAlex Meyerovich

Two fugitives wanted for weapons violations and drug trafficking were arrested Tuesday, October 16, 2012, in Barranquitas, Puerto Rico, by members of the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Violent Offenders Task Force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) special agents.

Edwin Monge-Peña, 29, wanted by HSI for drug trafficking, and Luis Daniel Rivera-Carrasquillo, 32, wanted by the FBI for weapons violations, were arrested by USMS and HSI special agents in the vicinity of Paseo de Torre Alta in the municipality of Barranquitas, while they were looking for a third fugitive who remains at-large. During the arrest, special agents asked for and obtained consent to search the residence, resulting in the seizure of six rifles; a 9 mm pistol; a machine gun; several magazines, ammunition and cellular telephones; and more than $10,000 in cash.

“These men made the wrong decision by engaging themselves in criminal activity and again, by evading their arrest,” said Angel Melendez, acting special agent in charge of HSI San Juan. “HSI will continue working with our partners in the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Offenders Task Force to apprehend those who think they can commit a crime and then run and hide.”

Monge-Peña is one of the 53 individuals indicted for drug trafficking and money laundering and was a target of Operation Lighthouse, a joint HSI-U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that culminated in the arrest of 44 individuals Oct. 4.

Both men were transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, awaiting the outcome of their case.

Indictment for Mexican Cartel Mastermind Behind Extensive Drug Tunnels

October 8, 2012blogborder, CBP, DEA, DHS, drug cartel, Drug Enforcement Administration, drug smuggling, drug trafficking, drug tunnel, extradition, HSI, ICE, indictment, marijuana, Mexico, San Diego Tunnel Task ForceAlex Meyerovich

A probe by the multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force has resulted in the indictment of a high-ranking operative for Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel accused of masterminding two massive cross-border drug tunnels discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border in November 2010 and November 2011.

Jose Sanchez Villalobos, aka Quirino, 49, is charged in a 13-count federal indictment, handed down in February and unsealed Wednesday, October 3, 2012, with building, financing and operating two illicit underground passageways. Investigators say Sanchez Villalobos oversaw the shipment of large quantities of marijuana into the Tijuana area and arranged to have it smuggled through the sophisticated tunnels he controlled. U.S. authorities have asked Mexicoto extradite him.

“This investigation clearly underscores our resolve to track down those responsible for constructing and financing the sophisticated tunnels we’re increasingly seeing along the San Diego-Tijuana border,” said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Diego. “I commend the collaborative work by agents on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for their perseverance and hard work that resulted in this significant indictment.”

The indictment charges Sanchez Villalobos with nine counts of conspiracy to distribute and import marijuana and four counts of building, financing and using the tunnels. All but one of the counts in the indictment carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

According to the indictment, Sanchez Villalobos built, financed and operated a 612-yard cross-border drug tunnel discovered Thanksgiving Day 2010. The tunnel, equipped with rail tracks, connected a warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial park with one in neighboring Tijuana, Mexico. On the Mexican side, the tunnel’s entrance was accessed through a hydraulically-controlled steel door and an elevator concealed beneath the warehouse floor. The ensuing investigation by federal agents resulted in the seizure of more than 22 tons of marijuana.

The indictment further accuses Sanchez Villalobos of building, financing and operating a second major tunnel discovered by the San Diego Tunnel Task Force Nov. 29, 2011, in the same industrial park. That tunnel, which ran for 600 yards under the U.S.-Mexico border, resulted in the seizure of 32 tons of marijuana, including 26 tons recovered on the U.S. side – one of the largest marijuana seizures in U.S. history.

The San Diego Tunnel Task Force is comprised of federal agents from HSI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol. To date, more than 150 tunnels have been discovered on the California-Mexico border, more than half of which were discovered in the last four years.

Drug Smuggling Airline Employee Sentenced After Two-Year Investigation

October 5, 2012blogAirport Investigations Group, arrest, Bermuda, Bermuda Police Service, CBP, conspiracy, DEA, Drug Enforcement Administration, drug smuggling, drug trade, HSI, ICE, investigation, marijuana, narcotics, Philadelphia International Airport, sentencing, terrorism, US AirwaysAlex Meyerovich

Nearly two years from October 2, 2012, Philadelphia International Airport came to a grinding halt as a security incident was discovered on a Bermuda-bound US Airways aircraft. This security incident turned out to be a drug smuggling operation discovered by an astute airline employee, and investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

It was later discovered that Brian Wade used his position as a baggage handler at the airport to smuggle drugs on US Airways flights to Bermuda for more than 10 years.

Spotted by a US Airways employee Oct. 7, 2010, Wade, wearing his work uniform and off duty at the time, was observed placing items in the baggage hold of US Airways flight 1070. The incident garnered immediate live national media coverage that afternoon. As the incident was being investigated for possible ties to terrorism, HSI special agents assigned to the airport determined it was tied to an elaborate narcotics smuggling scheme between Philadelphia and Bermuda.

Wade was arrested and later pleaded guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute a total of 3,022 grams of marijuana. This was related to his efforts to send marijuana to Bermuda by hiding it in commercial aircraft. On October 2, 2012, Wade was sentenced in federal court to 36 months of probation and a $1,000 fine.

“This investigation disrupted and dismantled an internal conspiracy that was going on for years at the Philadelphia International Airport,” said John Kelleghan, special agent in charge of HSI Philadelphia. “Keeping the flying public safe by stopping the flow of dangerous drugs, and bringing individuals engaged in international drug trafficking to justice is a high HSI priority.”

But that wasn’t the end of the investigation. What began in October 2010 continued for more than a year following Wade’s arrest when HSI’s Philadelphia Airport Investigations Group – working with an undercover agent posing as an associate of the corrupt airline worker – received 421 grams of heroin from a target of the HSI investigation. As part of the investigation, the heroin was replaced with “sham” narcotics and placed in a package that was sent to Bermuda concealed aboard a commercial aircraft.

HSI special agents determined that Wade had received the narcotics from unknown individuals who traveled to Philadelphia from New York on behalf of their conspirators in Bermuda. Wade received payment from his counterparts at the airport in Bermuda, who would place cash on the flight destined for Philadelphia. Once the aircraft arrived in Philadelphia, Wade would take the cash off in the same manner he smuggled the narcotics to Bermuda.

On June 1, 2011, HSI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) successfully dismantled this organization that was using Philadelphia International Airport to smuggle narcotics. Working around the clock, law enforcement officials identified corrupt airport and airline employees in the U.S. and Bermuda who utilized their positions to circumvent airport security and federal inspection procedures.

The resulting investigation led to the arrests in Bermuda of Lorenzo Lottimore, David Carroll and Lauren Marshall, current and former L.H. Wade International Airport employees. Another individual, Damian Hatherly, was also arrested. All four were charged with importation of narcotics. The drugs have a street value in Bermuda of almost $1 million. Subsequently, $90,000 in suspected drug proceeds was seized from a bank account utilized by Carroll.

On Sept. 10, 2012, just before the trial was due to start, Carroll pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import controlled narcotics, specifically cannabis and heroin, and agreed to forfeit $70,000 in Bermuda currency. Additionally, authorities in Bermuda dropped prosecution against Marshall.

On Sept. 25, 2012, a Bermuda Supreme Court jury convicted Lottimore and Hatherly of one count each of conspiracy to import controlled drugs. They both face a minimum of 12 years in prison.

HSI special agents noted that US Airways officials cooperated fully throughout the entire investigation.

Key Player in Major International Drug Ring Found Guilty

August 29, 2012blogarrest, cocaine, Colombia, crime, Drug Enforcement Administration, drug ring, drug trade, drug trafficking, FBI, HSI, ICE, Panama, Panama Express South Strike Force, US Coast Guard, US Southern Command Joint Interagency Task Force SouthAlex Meyerovich

A federal jury found a Colombian man guilty Wednesday, August 22, 2012, of three drug conspiracy charges. He faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison for two of the conspiracy charges and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison for the third charge. This case was investigated by the Panama Express South Strike Force, which consists of officers and analysts from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service and the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, Laureano Angulo Riascos, 54, ofColombia, was second-in-command of the Morfi drug trafficking organization. Starting in 2000, he worked with others to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Panama, using speed boats or go-fast vessels. By 2002, Riascos and others began making shipments containing thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Mexico. The cocaine was ultimately destined for the United States.

The Morfi drug trafficking organization pioneered the design and construction of self-propelled, semi-submersible vessels and used them to smuggle cocaine. The drug traffickers built and dispatched these vessels from Mayorquin, Colombia, an area on the country’s pacific coast controlled by the 30th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The State Department has designated the 30th Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia as a foreign terrorist organization. The drug traffickers paid the Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia a fee to conduct drug trafficking operations on its territory. Between 2004 and 2009, Riascos worked with others to dispatch more than 15 self-propelled, semi-submersible vessels from Mayorquin, each carrying between 2,000 and 5,000 kilograms of cocaine. The total amount of cocaine trafficked by Riascos is valued at more than $1 billion.

Riascos is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 9. He was indicted Dec. 2, 2010, and extradited to the United States from Colombia April 17.

The current suspected head of the Morfi drug trafficking organization, Jose Samir Renteria-Cuero, aka “Jose Morfi,” is in custody in Colombia. He has been indicted and is pending extradition to the Middle District of Florida for prosecution. An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

The Panama Express South Strike Force is an organized crime drug enforcement task force. These task forces identify, disrupt and dismantle the most serious drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and those primarily responsible for the nation’s drug supply.