Agents from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation have busted two central Florida drug traffickers in the middle of their business.
The drug traffickers were caught right as they had all their goods and interested parties in one place.
According to law enforcement officials, the two notorious drug traffickers have been reported to bring in large quantities of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. The agency arrested 24 people who are suspected to be directly involved with the business.
The Metropolitan Bureau of investigation also reported that the two groups of traffickers sourced their drugs from Puerto Rico and brought them to Orlando, Florida. It took a well-coordinated form of policing that gathered information from the general public and well-trained officers to bring down the cartel.
The operation that saw the two groups of drug traffickers busted was referred to as Operation Night Watch. The officials from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation said that the operation has been ongoing for almost a year and finally showed the expected results.
On the scene of capture, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation agents were able to recover almost 1,000 bags containing cocaine and heroin. This was expected to be distributed to the streets and other nearby towns for sale to drug users.
The investigators also charged the two groups with other malicious acts that compromised the safety of communities in Orlando.These charges involved racketeering as well as carrying out unlawful financial transactions including money laundering.
They were also charged with trafficking cocaine and heroin, which they were caught with at the time of arrest. Also on the scene of the crime, the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation officers recovered weapons which are said to be used in the groups' activities.
These charges could see the arrested persons imprisoned for many years as a result of their activities.
The director of Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, Ron Stucker, said that the agency had received a tip regarding the drug trafficker's leader, Miguel Mercado. He said that they obtained reliable information that the reported suspect was importing cocaine and heroin from Puerto Rico.
They then acted fast on the Intel without negligence only to find out the whole operation was on the verge of completion and if they delayed, all would be lost.
According to the report given by the officials from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the traffickers used private shipping companies to transport all the illegal items from the island to the mainland of the U.S.
An a press conference, Stuckerstated that the traffickers had received significant financial gains, making tens of thousands of dollars in transactions every week.
According to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, the net worth of a kilo of cocaine is about $30,000. For the same amount of heroin, the street worth of it is about $60,000, which made the business flourish in a span of little time.
Reports indicate the smugglers flourished in violence and victimization to anyone who interfered with the business.
This led to the operation being very sensitive to avoid deaths on the side of law enforcement.
Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation officials stated they identified that the drug cartels were using a car lot as their preferred point of doing business.
At this point, the drugs would be sorted for further transportation or to be sold to the street.
Also, it was at this point of the drug supply chain that the drug dealers would pay for the narcotics to the suppliers to avoid raising any alarm.
Local police are highly concerned with the growing use and sale of narcotics in the streets. According to officials at the Orange County Sheriff's Office,Operation Night Watch is just the start of a larger effort by local law enforcement to crackdown on large-scale drug trafficking organizations.
Reportedly, Orange County has experienced a significant rise in drug overdoses this year, with many of them being fatal. Thus, forming impromptu measures to mitigate the issue is highly recommended.
The police officials have said that they are working harder to bring the remaining suspects to face the full force of the law. This is after the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation agents acknowledged that not all the drug traffickers had been arrested.
Most of the suspects that were arrested earlier have been taken to court, and their cases are pending the judges to complete them. According to the Orange County Sheriff's Office, most of those who have been arrested are on bond more than $100,000.
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