Cali smoke
- 302
- 0
The Federal government has busted two major drug cartels in Atlanta and charged 34 defendants involved with nationwide drug distribution and transportation “cells” that coordinated the distribution of millions of dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana in the United States and sent back the proceeds to Mexico.
The bust is part of “Project Reckoning,” a 15-month multi-agency law enforcement plan led by the DEA, which has targeted the Mexican drug trafficking cartel known as the Gulf Cartel. To date, Project Reckoning has led to the arrest of 332 people and the seizure of $57.7 million, 16,347 kilograms of cocaine, 485 pounds of methamphetamine, 19 pounds of heroin, 51,147 pounds of marijuana, 114 vehicles and 116 weapons.
The feds identified a metro Atlanta-based drug distribution cell and a transportation cell being run out of Texas and operating in several cities including Atlanta. The drug money generated by the Atlanta drug distribution cell was shipped to Texas and then Mexico on a tractor trailer, the government said. The transportation cell then arranged for truck drivers to meet with drug traffickers and receive drug proceeds, which were concealed among the legitimate cargo being hauled to cities such as Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Indianapolis; and Austin, Texas.
Using court-approved wiretaps of drug phones, surveillance and coordinated police traffic stops, the multi-state federal, state, and local investigation led to multiple arrests and seizures on Sept. 16.
Members of the transportation cell are charged with aiding and abetting the Atlanta drug organization's drug conspiracy, by participating in laundering its money.
As Atlanta Business Chronicle noted in a special report in 2006, Atlanta has become the main distribution hub on the East Coast for the illegal drug methamphetamine made by Mexican cartels. The city is attractive to the cartels, officials said, for the same reasons it is attractive to businesses: It's a strategic location with access to major interstate highways.
“Metro Atlanta unfortunately continues to be a major drug distribution center for the Southeast and beyond,” said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias. “The two cartel cells indicted in Atlanta acted like many shipping businesses, coordinating the transportation of truckloads of hidden drugs and millions of dollars in currency across the country and to and from Mexico. Through our sophisticated investigation and prosecutions, we have disrupted these organizations, seized large amounts of their poisons and proceeds, and now will work hard to lock up their members for many years to come.”
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/09/15/daily55.html
The bust is part of “Project Reckoning,” a 15-month multi-agency law enforcement plan led by the DEA, which has targeted the Mexican drug trafficking cartel known as the Gulf Cartel. To date, Project Reckoning has led to the arrest of 332 people and the seizure of $57.7 million, 16,347 kilograms of cocaine, 485 pounds of methamphetamine, 19 pounds of heroin, 51,147 pounds of marijuana, 114 vehicles and 116 weapons.
The feds identified a metro Atlanta-based drug distribution cell and a transportation cell being run out of Texas and operating in several cities including Atlanta. The drug money generated by the Atlanta drug distribution cell was shipped to Texas and then Mexico on a tractor trailer, the government said. The transportation cell then arranged for truck drivers to meet with drug traffickers and receive drug proceeds, which were concealed among the legitimate cargo being hauled to cities such as Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; Indianapolis; and Austin, Texas.
Using court-approved wiretaps of drug phones, surveillance and coordinated police traffic stops, the multi-state federal, state, and local investigation led to multiple arrests and seizures on Sept. 16.
Members of the transportation cell are charged with aiding and abetting the Atlanta drug organization's drug conspiracy, by participating in laundering its money.
As Atlanta Business Chronicle noted in a special report in 2006, Atlanta has become the main distribution hub on the East Coast for the illegal drug methamphetamine made by Mexican cartels. The city is attractive to the cartels, officials said, for the same reasons it is attractive to businesses: It's a strategic location with access to major interstate highways.
“Metro Atlanta unfortunately continues to be a major drug distribution center for the Southeast and beyond,” said U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias. “The two cartel cells indicted in Atlanta acted like many shipping businesses, coordinating the transportation of truckloads of hidden drugs and millions of dollars in currency across the country and to and from Mexico. Through our sophisticated investigation and prosecutions, we have disrupted these organizations, seized large amounts of their poisons and proceeds, and now will work hard to lock up their members for many years to come.”
Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2008/09/15/daily55.html
