DEA Operations Dismantle Two Major Heroin Trafficking Organizations

NOV 19 -- On November 17, 2010, federal, state and local law enforcement officers arrested ten Mexican nationals and executed a series of search warrants in the Albuquerque metropolitan area in connection with two Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigations targeting two major heroin trafficking organizations. More than twenty pounds of heroin were seized during yesterday’s enforcement action, one of the largest heroin seizures in New Mexico.

The DEA investigations, code-named “Operation Brown Stone” and “Operation Sole Runner,” leading to yesterday’s arrests and seizures were designated as Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) operations. OCDETF is a nationwide program that combines the resources and unique expertise of federal agencies, along with their local counterparts, in a coordinated attack against major drug trafficking and money laundering organizations. Operation Brown Stone targeted an organization that allegedly distributed several kilograms of heroin in the Albuquerque area on a monthly basis in addition to distributing other narcotics including methamphetamine and marijuana.

Operation Sole Runner was aimed at dismantling an organization that allegedly smuggled heroin from Mexico into New Mexico and then distributed the heroin throughout the country. The ten defendants, who generally are charged with unlawfully trafficking in heroin and methamphetamine in a series of criminal complaints, were presented before United States Magistrate Judge Robert Hayes Scott today. The defendants are detained pending preliminary hearings and detention hearings scheduled for November 19, 2010.