Twenty-two people have been accused of operating a cross-border drug trafficking organization in a scheme that used houses in the San Gabriel Valley to store illicit merchandise, according to a federal indictment unsealed Thursday.
The prosecution follows a two-year wiretap investigation into associates of the Sinaloa cartel, which was previously led by the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, now jailed in the U.S.
During the investigation, a team of federal and local agents seized nearly 300 pounds of methamphetamine, 280 pounds of cocaine and 30 pounds of heroin, along with $1.3 million in cash, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.
Of those charged, seven people were arrested Thursday and one was already in a California state prison. Fourteen others — four of whom have unknown identities — remain at large and investigators suspect they are in Mexico.
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