Mon, Aug 16, 2004
Mexican drug ring was
smuggling cocaine from Texas, Arizona to Newark on Lear Jets
Federal Agents in New Jersey have announced that they have
broken a Mexican drug ring that was using private jets to smuggle
cocaine into Teterboro Airport. Six men were arrested, and
three Lear Jet aircraft were seized, according to the US Drug
Enforcement Administration. Of the six men, five men were Mexican
nationals and one was from the Dominican Republic.
The jets were being used to ferry the drugs from Texas and
Arizona to the northeast. The drugs were then taken to Manhattan,
sold and distributed. The cash from the sale would be loaded into
the jets for the return flight to Texas, Arizona and in some cases,
California.
"It's likely this cocaine remained and was sold in the New
York-New Jersey area," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marion Percell told
the Record of Bergen County.
Each trip into Teterboro would see a load of some 50 to 90 kg of
cocaine, and the return flights would carry between $300,000 and $3
million in cash, according to court documents. The Lears seized by
federal agents are estimated to have a market value of several
million dollars. Also seized in the operation were some five dozen
kilograms of cocaine, several firearms and almost three-quarter
million dollars in cash. The suspects were ordered held with out
bail in Newark, where they will each face a sentence of life in
prison if convicted.
"Not only did we arrest the individuals responsible for the
importation and distribution of cocaine, but their
multi-million-dollar transportation infrastructure was also
removed," said Michael Pasterchick, special agent in charge of the
Newark DEA office.
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