Traditionally, L.A. is the transportation hub, he said, noting that the city is north of many immigration checkpoints and is home to four airports, numerous freeways and countless package distribution centers. "In my humble opinion, it's because of two reasons. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- Authorities busted one of the largest marijuana cultivations ever uncovered in the city of Riverside, officials said Friday. Agents seized more than 4,800 pounds of meth nationwide and are still working on more arrests, according to the DEA. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Community Guidelines, EEO Report | FCC Applications | Do Not Sell My Personal Information, Daily News Headlines Had they not been seized, the drugs would have infiltrated Los Angeles within a day, according to Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the DEAs Los Angeles Division. They. 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. We'll send you the top local news stories every morning at 8 a.m. By clicking subscribe, you agree to share your email address with Times of San Diego to receive our free newsletter and breaking news alerts. The arrests were announced during a news conference in Riverside Wednesday morning, where authorities said violent crime has risen dramatically during the pandemic. Since June, couriers and a stash house for the drugs were identified through ongoing surveillance, much of it conducted by Fontana Police Department personnel, authorities said. On Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at an Otay Mesa commercial facility in San Diego County seized more than 3,100 pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder, fentanyl pills and heroin as part what the DEA characterized as the second-largest methamphetamine bust along the southwest border in the history of the CBP. As trafficking has expandedin Riverside County, so have efforts to stop it. . Chief Sergio Diaz made the announcement during a news conference at Riverside city hall, flanked by law enforcement personnel, community leaders, and elected officials. A man was arrested on multiple charges during a drug bust in Columbus. RIVERSIDE, California (AP) A former U.S. On April 5, 2011, Deputy Gerald Rohn, of the Riverside County Sheriffs Department, dug into the side yard of an abandoned house in Lake Elsinore. Cocaine and meth were being distributed throughout the region from the location, which investigators identified in September, according to the DEA. The Southern California seizure occurred on Oct. 2 and included 893 pounds of cocaine, 13 pounds of heroin and 2,200 pounds of methamphetamine. The 2,224 pounds (1,008.7 kilograms) of methamphetamine was seized Oct. 2 during an investigation of a drug-trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa cartel, the DEA said in a statement. Then Reyes rattled off a list of chores. Morning Forecast DEA agents make historic $33M drug bust in Riverside County DEA Los Angeles A nearly two-ton seizure of methamphetamine in Norco was the largest meth seizure documented by the U.S. Drug. 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Police say all the suspects are now facing felony charges. Stephanie Lai was a 2020 intern for the Los Angeles Times. Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. His identity was not provided. The DEA's big bust came just a week before another huge meth seizure. They know that some will get caught, but a lot of it's going to get through.". Be the first to know when news breaks in Coachella Valley. Other suspects are alleged to have then distributed the drugs to gang members across the Inland Empire. And some of it, concealed inside duffle bags, was apparently passed between cars in public including at a Sam's Club parking lot in Moreno Valley. Like in Riverside, drug seizures along that stretch of border have gone up dramatically. RIVERSIDE - In what is believed to likely be the largest seizure of carfentanil in Riverside County, a Perris man and woman have been charged by the DA's Office with four drug-related felonies after a lengthy investigation by the Riverside Police Department. Agents from Southwest Border Group 2 began investigating a large-scale drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in San Diego's Otay Mesa area, allegedly involved in the transportation and delivery of large quantities of drugs. Narcotics seized during a bust Friday in Otay Mesa. A total of 19 suspects were indicted. In one case, smugglers brought more than 90 pounds of meth across the border undetected at a border checkpoint. The Riverside County District Attorneys Office has pointed to this bust as an example of the importance of local wiretaps, but the case also shows how drug trafficking has changed in this region. RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KABC) -- An early morning raid by federal and local authorities netted 12 arrests in the Riverside area on Wednesday, with authorities confiscating large amounts of weapons,. The loose dirt turned easy. "Meth, heroin, cocaine," said city councilman Mike Gardner. "I don't know how they hide that.". Agents seized more than 5,000 pounds of meth nationwide and are still working on more arrests, according to the DEA. Border Patrol officials said this summer that the quantity of meth and heroin theyre intercepting now is 10 times higher than it was a decade ago. (Renee Schiavone/Patch) RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA Authorities Wednesday arrested 16 defendants . The biggest haul was in Perris, where DEA agents and investigators from several . Thats nearly one fourth as much meth, and one tenth as much heroin, as was seized by the entire DEA nationwide from 2012 to 2014. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a record-breaking bust Wednesday: roughly 2,224 pounds of methamphetamine recovered in Riverside County. All rights reserved. Federal authorities on Wednesday showed off results of Southern California raids. "The cartels are aware of law enforcement efforts at the border, so what they'll do is they'll flood the border with multiple vehicles coming through," said FBI agent Andrew Sharp. We dont see many of those anymore.. The Riverside office also seized nearly $47 million in cash, vehicles and guns during that three-year span. "We continue to work with our state and local partners to attack drug trafficking at all levels, and this seizure sends a clear message that we mean business.". Even if Sinaloas dont move the drugs themselves, they tax any other cartel that ships narcotics through their territory, like a smuggling tollbooth. YREKA, Calif., For the fourth time in just over five weeks, members of Siskiyou County's new Domestic Highway Enforcement (DHE) Team made a significant drug bust while patrolling the I-5 corridor through Siskiyou County last Thursday, March 10. Around 9:45 a.m. Friday, a driver arrived at a cargo border crossing with a tractor-trailer shipment that was manifested as medical supplies. The DEA said it represented the single "largest seizure" of meth that the agency's Los Angeles personnel had ever made. Homeland Security special agent who sexually assaulted two women, telling them he was ""above the law," was found guilty Wednesday of violating their civil rights, federal prosecutors said. "The defendants were able to smuggle the drugs across the border during COVID, when it was more difficult to do.". Wiretaps are requiredto be last resorts for law enforcement, used only when surveillance, informants and other investigatory tools have failed. DEA officials say the smuggled narcotics flow from Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel through Riverside County stash houses en route to sellers markets in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Canada. LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) A pyramid of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin standing 10 feet tall with an estimated street value of $18.5 million was confiscated during two recent drug trafficking investigations in the Inland Empire representing the largest Drug Enforcement Agency meth bust in U.S. history. If they push an investigation far enough, there is an excellent chance its going to make it back here, said Tim Massino, a DEA spokesman. Twenty-five duffel bags loaded with cocaine, heroin and meth were seized, according to the DEA. REDDING, Calif., For the second time in less than two weeks a Redding felon, who was already on probation for drug sales, was busted again for fentanyl possession and sales yesterday after a citizen's tip led officers to an apartment the man . Smugglers will try every way possible to try and get their product across the border; and because of the partnership between CBP, Homeland Security investigations and DEA, this significant seizure occurred and we stopped them, said Anne Maricich, acting CBP director of field operations in San Diego. The DEA's big bust came just a week before another huge meth seizure. The investigation led to the seizure of dozens of kilos of illegal drugs - including 21 kilos of suspected carfentanil. The narcotics were all packed away in approximately 25 duffle bags. The drugs are alleged to have been stored in hidden compartments in their vehicles. The largest DEA domestic seizure of methamphetamine in history is a significant blow to the cartels, but more importantly it is a gigantic victory for communities throughout Southern California and the United States who have had to deal with the torrent of methamphetamine coming into their neighborhoods, Shea said. (DEA) MORENO VALLEY, CA Federal agents on Wednesday announced what they called the largest methamphetamine bust by Drug Enforcement Agency . Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. All rights reserved. The scope is enormous here, and then spreads through to everywhere, said a Coachella Valley DEA agent, who asked not to be identified to preserve his undercover work. January 10, 2023 at 5:40 p.m. There's more guns on the street than I've ever seen in my career, and there's thousands of people who should be incarcerated who aren't incarcerated right now," said Gonzalez. The DEA says ruralareas are ideal for stash houses because they are difficult to monitor, but other experts said surroundings dont really matter. Industrial-sized labs moved to Mexico, where American laws are meaningless, and cartels now smuggle their product to their customer base in the U.S. Superficially,the shift has made Riverside County safer. Luke Money is a Metro reporter covering breaking news at the Los Angeles Times. Riverside. With the generous support of readers like you, Times of San Diego publishes timely and accurate news coverage for a better-informed community. In April, Arkansas State Police found 275 poundsof meth worth an estimated $10 million hidden in a semi-truck on Interstate 40, about 10 miles east of Little Rock. However, another federal agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, netted an even bigger amount of meth the following week. In the pickup, agents found the visitors. Twenty-nine pounds of heroin were hidden in a secret compartment. Two years before that, Riverside resident Hiram Granados Alvarez was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to ship 220 pounds of cocaine to a drug ring in Baltimore. LOS ANGELES - Authorities this morning arrested 16 defendants linked to an Inland Empire-based drug trafficking ring that used the U.S. The Sinaloas have been linked to 90 percent of the drugs that move through Southern California, said Dave Stinnett, an intelligence analystwith the DEAs Los Angeles division. MORENO VALLEY, CA Federal agents on Wednesday announced what they called the largest methamphetamine bust by Drug Enforcement Agency investigators in domestic U.S. history, displaying a 10-foot-high pile of the drug weighing more than 3 tons seized at stash houses in Riverside County. From the Sinaloa territory, drugs enter the country in Calexico, a border town in Imperial County. The drugs seized at the location, which also included heroin and fentanyl, had a street value of about $7.2 million. Police arrested 23 people in an operation designed to crack down on illegal drug sales in downtown Riverside. On Oct. 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped a truck crossing from Mexico into the United States at San Diego's Otay . Over a three-year period that ended in September, the Riverside DEA Office, which also covers San Bernardino County, has seized about 6,500 pounds of meth and 770 pounds of heroin. The entrance to a drug tunnel discovered by federal authorities in Otay Mesa, March 30, 2020. Suspect arrested in Sexual Assault. At the end of the month, a stakeout of the property led to federal agents and police officers arresting a man who was carrying heavy boxes out of the house and placing them in a vehicle, according to the DEA. Du kan endre valgene dine nr som helst ved g til personvernkontrollene dine. 9/21/2022 8:33 PM. Justice officials fear nation's biggest wiretap operation may not be legal. Beltran, who was convicted in 2013, was sentenced to four years in prison. . The drugs were intended for distribution throughout the region, investigators said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announced a record-breaking bust Wednesday: roughly 2,224 pounds of methamphetamine recovered in Riverside County. Posted Wed, Jan 29, 2020 at 2:22 pm PT. Agents seized more than 4,800 pounds of meth nationwide and are still working on more arrests, according to the DEA. Carfentanil . Help us grow with a monthly contribution. More than 1.5M positive COVID-19 cases since 2020. "Drugs make people make bad decisions," said Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez. Riverside County wiretaps have increased eight-fold since 2010, and now outnumber any other county or federal district by more than three to one. This was a rare momentwhen Riverside Countys secret drug pipeline a cross-countryconduit for tons of meth and heroin accidentally exposed itself to the outside world. 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