More than 93 pounds of cocaine was seized as part of the dismantling of a Maryland trafficking ring with ties to a Mexican drug cartel, officials said Tuesday.
The 15-month investigation, which grew out of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, involved undercover work, drones, tracking devices and the 24-hour monitoring of phone lines.
“We were up on a very, very complex wiretap investigation,” Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said at a news conference Tuesday held with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and local and federal law enforcement officials.
Officials said investigators also seized smaller amounts of fentanyl, heroin, ecstasy and other drugs — carrying a street value in excess of $4 million, Lewis said. More than a dozen suspects have been charged after an investigation that lasted several years, he said.
“Imagine how much poison was removed from our streets,” Lewis said.
The drugs, along with 11 weapons and more than $23,000 in cash, entered the area via an 18-wheeler traveling from Southern California, Lewis said. Officials believe those items were trafficked into the country by the Jalisco New Generation cartel in Mexico.
The narcotics were meant to be distributed across the Eastern Shore, Baltimore, Pennsylvania and Delaware, said Moore, calling the bust “one of the largest in state history.”
“I think the people in the state know that I have no patience for violent offenders,” Moore said. “People who, far too long, have been doing harm to our communities.”
Lewis said local officials were “rattled” after learning that the violent Jalisco cartel had a presence in the area that is home to waterfront towns and beach communities hugging the Chesapeake Bay.
“To think that they were bringing this kind of product into the Eastern Shore of Maryland is very troubling and eye-opening for us,” he said.
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