According to the agency, authorities had been investigating a cocaine and meth drug trafficking organization believed to be linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. 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. Agents said the confiscated drugs will be inventoried at the warehouse before being taken to a federal facility for safekeeping. Legal Statement. 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. 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. Ira Reiner said that when the officers entered the warehouse in Sylmar and shined their flashlights about the room, they couldnt believe their eyes.. 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. DEA CNN More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized this week after authorities in San Diego. Detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Narcotic Bureau identified over 500 illegal marijuana cultivations in 2021, increasing from the 150 identified in 2020, according to a June statement. Discovery Company. Did you encounter any technical issues? All rights reserved. Theres a glut on the coke market, said the source, who requested anonymity. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. The drugs have an estimated street value of $33 million. Copyright 2023 KABC Television, LLC. 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. Officials say they believe international cartels are behind the illegal large-scale marijuana farms. NBC4 produces 43 hours each week of local news and weather, and the station features the largest award-winning investigative unit in Southern California. We have to continue to do everything we can to combat this deadly drug epidemic and save lives.. The one-story warehouse is located in an industrial park in Sylmar, a developing district on the northern edge of Los Angeles. The cocaine, believed destined for Los Angeles, was 90 percent pure and of Colombian origin, said Ted Hunter, special agent with the federal Drug Enforcement . A police dog kneels in front of numerous brown bags allegedly containing methamphetamine in San Diego County, California. #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. But over the last three weeks, they noticed the cartels really starting to make an increased effort to get drugs across the border. 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. That is what's coming.". Kathy Vara reports for the NBC4 News at 4 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020. CALIFORNIA, USA Federal agents announced what they called the largest methamphetamine bust in U.S. history Wednesday, displaying a 10-foot high pile of the confiscated drug representing a haul . 2. HARRIS MEETS WITH MEXICAN PRESIDENT AMID CRITICISM OVER MIGRANT REMARKS, LACK OF BORDER VISIT. Tori B. Powell is a breaking news reporter at CBS News. Authorities seized . 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. GILROY, Calif. On August 24, 2010, law enforcement seized what was - at the time- the largest meth bust in the United States. SAN DIEGO . This is the cartels. They have pleaded not guilty and remain in custody on $5-million bail, the D.A.s office said. or redistributed. How is that money being used? 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. It was the coming together of two organizations, a distributor and a buyer, Hazell said, declining to explain further. More than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine were seized in National City, California. Hazell said the surveillance team obtained a warrant and searched the car, finding 20 kilograms of cocaine in the trunk. Edgar Alfonso Lamas, 36, and Carlos Raygozaparedes, 53, were arrested March 17 after Buena Park police officers recovered 20.5 pounds of fentanyl pills from inside a minivan, the Orange County district attorneys office announced Wednesday. During the investigation, DEA agents and officers, along with the Fontana Police Department, identified a house in Norco where drugs were being stored. The largest previous seizure in the United states came last Nov. 17, when agents recovered about 4.35 tons of the drug in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "And we introduced law and order back in those days. 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. Why are people treating me this way? 30-year-old Dalton Clayton is charged with possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine and other counts. 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. Last year, officials seized more than 3 million fentanyl pills in Los . Los Angeles authorities said further arrests were expected. According to the criminal complaint, on February 13th, the task force got a tip Clayton . 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.. Market data provided by Factset. Biggest drug bust goes down in LA sheriff department history. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. One of the trailers was still parked by the warehouse door on Friday. The leads here are endless, Reiner said. published to the Salinas Police Department Facebook page, Everyone Practices Cancel Culture | Opinion, Deplatforming Free Speech is Dangerous | Opinion. Sign up for FOX 11s Fast 5 newsletter. The truck also contained 64 pounds (29 kilograms) of heroin, 29 pounds (13.1 kilograms) of fentanyl powder and almost 37 pounds (16.7 kilograms) of fentanyl pills, the agency said. Los Angeles police said the total amount of cocaine seized in Sylmar was 39,600 pounds, or 19.8 tons. Three men believed to be Mexican nationals were arrested in the Los Angeles area--two of them at luxury hotels--and about $10 million in cash was seized at a warehouse in Sylmar during raids that began about 10 p.m. Thursday, according to DEA agents. 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. If convicted of all charges, both face a maximum sentence of 37 years and 4 months, according to the D.A.s office. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. 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 Medellin cartel has been blamed for a recent wave of violence against officials in Colombia. 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.. according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In the last two months alone, there have been at least seven confirmed mass overdose events tied to fentanyl across the U.S. resulting in 58 overdoses and 29 deaths, the agency said. 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. And, get breaking news alerts in the FOX 11 News app. The cash was deposited by federal officials in a downtown bank Friday afternoon. They also found $966,000 in cash and seized five tractor-trailers. "We are not talking about mom and pop people selling marijuana that they grew in their backyard. That is the equivalent of about 90 million rocks--the crystalline, pea-sized chunks of the drug commonly sold on the street. 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. ET: This story has been updated with statements from Salinas Police Departmen press information officer Miguel Cabrera and Monterey County District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni. / CBS News. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, 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. Nearly 375,000 marijuana plants and 33,480 pounds of harvested marijuana were seized, along with 65 vehicles, 180 animals and $28,000. 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. Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle writer for Fox News Digital. "The biggest thanks is going to have to go to my detectives for their hard work," said Acting Salinas Police Chief Roberto Filice. Bill Bodner, special agent in charge of the DEA's Los Angeles Field Division, said Los Angeles is a major transshipment hub for Mexican cartels trafficking illegal drugs across the southwest border. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. "This monumental seizure represents another win against drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States," said Shelly S. Howe, DEA Special Agent in Charge, in a statement issued with the U.S. Attorney's press release. 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. She called on the district attorney to prosecute those arrested in the operation. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Because of the number of agencies involved in the case, Cabrera said it took a great deal of coordination, long hours, research and collaboration to get on the same page. One bill would make it a felony to possess 2 or more grams of the synthetic opioid. 2022 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. The investigation into the drug trafficking organization remains ongoing. Five men at the scene of the raid were taken into department custody who identified themselves as Mexican nationals who just arrived in the U.S. within the last month.