Feds stop Mexican cartel from trafficking drugs out of West Virginia autobody shop
MARTINSBURG, W. Va. (KDKA) -- Eighteen people have been charged with trafficking drugs from a Mexican cartel out of an autobody shop in West Virginia, prosecutors announced.
The group imported large amounts of drugs from Puerto Rico through the U.S. Postal Service as well as a source connected to the Sinaloa Cartel, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of West Virginia said. The organization ran their large-scale fentanyl and cocaine drug trafficking operation from an autobody shop in West Virginia, which prosecutors didn't name.
"This case underscores the scope of the threat posed by Mexican drug cartels to the people of West Virginia," said U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld. "These transnational organizations will operate anywhere that there is profit to be made, including here in our region. Fortunately, we have one of the best drug task forces in the country to push back against dangerous groups like this one."
Sixteen people -- who are from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and California -- have been arrested. As of Tuesday, officials were still looking for the remaining two.
The arrests are the culmination of an investigation by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, which "identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach," the Department of Justice says.
The Eastern Panhandle Drug Task Force led the investigation.