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Local drug trafficking conspiracy with international ties solved after years-long investigation – KIRO 7 News Seattle

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SEATTLE – The U.S. Department of Justice says a drug surveillance conspiracy has been uncovered after a year-long wiretap that also involved local and national law enforcement agencies, as well as law enforcement agencies in Mexico and Colombia.

Law enforcement teams from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Seattle Police Department and IRS Criminal Investigation executed 24 search and arrest warrants and took four people into custody.

The four arrested are U.S., Mexican and Colombian citizens and lived in Kent, Renton, Tukwila and Plainfield, New Jersey.

“This operation is a fantastic example of cooperation between the Seattle Police Department, the DEA, the IRS and the Colombian National Police,” said Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr.

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“Whenever possible, we try to trace both the source of the drugs and the money that flows back to those who supply the drugs,” said U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.

A fifth person linked to the conspiracy, a Mexican national who previously lived in Renton, is currently behind bars in a federal prison in California.

During the investigation, one of the defendants, Ramon Duarte Garcia, a Mexican national living in Kent, was stopped while driving back to the Pacific Northwest carrying 12 pounds of meth, a stolen firearm and cash.

In total, law enforcement seized 84,000 fentanyl tablets, more than a kilogram of fentanyl powder, 32 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of methamphetamine, nearly three kilograms of heroin, nine firearms and $71,000 in cash.

“Tracking the money has taken this investigation to places near and far, allowing us to disrupt this large-scale drug trafficking chain from start to finish,” said Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes of the IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) in the Seattle Field Office.

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