(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – A large-scale bust of a drug ring connected with “the Aryan Family prison gang” has led to dozens of federal arrests in Washington state and Arizona and the seizure of some 2 million fentanyl doses and hundreds of firearms.
Following the arrests, 27 suspects were indicted for drug trafficking by a grand jury, announced US Attorney Nick Brown, as quoted by the US Justice Department in a release.
According to Brown, many of those indicted are connected with the “Aryan Family,” described as “a white supremacist prison gang.”
Besides the over 1.9 million fentanyl doses, the feds confiscated 230 pounds of methamphetamine and over 225 guns.
The busted drug trafficking group was led by Jesse James Bailey, an “influential member of the Aryan Family prison gang,” the Justice Department said.
His organization trafficked “huge amounts” of illicit narcotics such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, and others to Washington State, Idaho, and Alaska.
“While the dozen counts in this indictment do not detail every criminal moment in this conspiracy, it does provide one remarkable statistic: 48 firearms seized in this case even before last week’s takedown,” commented US Attorney Nick Brown.
“On Wednesday (March 22), we took another 177 guns off the street and additional kilos of fentanyl and meth. The level of danger is high when you have people connected to Aryan prison gangs spreading drugs and using guns in our community,” Brown added.
“We were able to arrest over 20 subjects, some of whom are alleged to have operated this drug organization from prison, and also prevented vast quantities of dangerous drugs from being sold on our streets,” said Richard Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle office.
“I’m so proud of how the FBI, along with our federal, state, and local partners worked together to keep our community safe,” he added.
The special police operation on March 22 included ten swat teams and more than 350 law enforcement officers.
It raided 18 locations in Washington state and Arizona and found over 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, 11 kilograms of fentanyl pills, and more than a kilogram of fentanyl powder, three kilograms of heroin, and more than $330,000.
In the year before the bust, during which the drug trafficking ring was under investigation, law enforcement had captured “830,000 fentanyl pills, 5.5 pounds of fentanyl powder, 223 pounds of methamphetamine, 3.5 pounds of heroin, 5 pounds of cocaine, $388,000 in cash, and 48 firearms.”
“The sheer amount of narcotics seized in this investigation is shocking,” commented Jacob Galvan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle.
“The fentanyl seized in this operation contained enough lethal doses to kill everyone who lives in Tacoma and Seattle, with enough lethal doses left over to poison another half a million people,” he added.
The bust was part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.
“OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach,” the DOJ explained.
