Feds Announce Largest Meth Seizure In Northern District Of California

 "The Owl" for Borderland Beat

David L. Anderson, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California announces the results of a large regional drug bust, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in San Francisco, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)

"We put a hurting on the Sinaloa Cartel," DEA Special Agent in Charge Daniel Comeaux said Thursday at a news conference held by federal prosecutors to announce multiple indictments and "breathtaking" drug seizures in the Bay Area. Federal prosecutors revealed the unsealing of 15 indictments against 44 individuals resulting from four separate investigations into the trafficking of illegal drugs to the Bay Area from Mexico, some of which allegedly originated with the international organized crime group known as the Sinaloa Cartel.

The prosecutors also announced seizures of approximately 500 grams of fentanyl, 20 pounds of cocaine, 20 pounds of heroin, and 1,100 pounds of methamphetamine, along with a dozen firearms and $200,000 in cash. The methamphetamine seized was described as the largest such seizure by federal agents in the Northern District of California. According to Comeaux, the seized meth was enough to provide 80 million individual doses, or 11 doses per every resident of the Bay Area.

"It is a good day for law enforcement," Comeaux said.

The arrests and seizures resulted from four separate investigations spanning more than 18 months and involving multiple law enforcement partners, including the Alameda County Narcotics Task Force, the California Highway Patrol, and the police departments of San Francisco, Redwood City, San Jose, Gilroy, Salinas, Hawthorne, Soledad, Santa Clara, Watsonville and Vallejo.

"This case exemplifies Homeland Security's commitment to local, state and federal interagency partnerships, which are critical to our ability to successfully reduce violent crime and maintain public safety in our community," according to Homeland Security Investigations (NorCal) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King.

One of the four investigations involved more than a hundred federal agents, who executed 15 arrest warrants and 13 search warrants, according to Craig Fair, FBI Special Agent-in-Charge. The four investigations -- given colorful code names like "Operation Burnt Orange" and "Thundergun -- were undertaken separately, but according to U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California David Anderson, had a "common origin" and reflect parallel activity in different locations throughout the Bay Area, with a concentration in the South Bay. The DEA has identified the Sinaloa Cartel as a "Transnational Criminal Organization."

The cartel "controls drug trafficking activity in various regions in Mexico, particularly along the Pacific Coast. Additionally, it maintains the most expansive international footprint compared to other Mexican TCO's. The Sinaloa Cartel exports and distributes wholesale amounts of methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl in the United States," according to DEA's 2019 National Drug Threat Assessment.

Anderson described the enforcement effort as revealing the "ruthless capitalism" of the illicit drug trafficking. He said that the indictments reveal a broad range of criminal behavior, amounting to an "entire ecosystem" of criminal activity, including drug procurement, transportation, mid-level distribution and street sales.

The indictments included counts for drug trafficking, conspiracy and firearms offenses. Anderson said that the criminal enterprise of drug trafficking is far from a "victimless crime" but one that destroys individuals and their lives. Anderson praised the law enforcement personnel involved in the operations.

"There has never been a more difficult time to be a law enforcement officer than today," he said. "Crime has not gone away while we are sheltering in place."

Of the 44 individuals named in the indictment, 18 are in federal custody, 13 have had pre-trial detention hearings and been released, one is in state custody and 12 remain at large, according to Anderson.

In recent years, trafficking in fentanyl has grown, causing a "surge in overdoses," according to Anderson. He noted that fentanyl has not replaced other trafficked drugs but is an addition to the existing trafficking. 

Source: SFGate