Tuesday, March 9, 2010

1,800 Pounds Of Marijuana Seized In Texas-Chicago Drug Bust

Photo: U.S. ICE file

U.S. ICE drug bust confiscates $1.8 million worth of marijuana in Chicago

By H. Nelson Goodson
March 9, 2010

Chicago - Last Saturday, José Mejia, 34; Jesus Vieyra, 46; and Daniel Villelda, 45; all of Brownsville, Texas; and Enrique Haro, 43; and Ismael Cornejo, 26; both of Chicago, were charged in an indictment on March 6 in the Northern District of Illinois for possessing 1,800 pounds of marijuana with the intent to distribute. The street value of the marijuana was estimated at $1.8 million, U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement (U.S. ICE) reported on Tuesday.
The federal criminal complaint states, that last month Mejia contacted a truck driver who happened to be an undercover ICE agent for a major marijuana delivery job from McAllen, Texas to Chicago. Mejia and some of his accomplices met the undercover agent to plan the transport. The agent who was then hired as the truck driver was offered between $90 to $100 dollars per delivered pound of pot.
Several meetings between Mejia and the agent were recorded and telephone communications between the agent and his accomplices were also monitored and recorded.
A press release issued by U.S. ICE says, that on March 1, Mejia and Vieya delivered 1,800 pounds of marijuana to the undercover agent in 76 bundles in Brownsville, Texas. Federal authorities were able to record a telephone conversation on March 5, when Mejia instructed the undercover agent to take the marijuana-laden vehicle to a restaurant on Chicago's south side. Later that day, Haro and an unidentified individual took the van to a residence on Avenue M in Chicago and unloaded the marijuana inside the garage.
ICE agents conducted a consent search at the garage and took possession of the marijuana. Mejia, Vieyra and Villelda were arrested March 5 at a hotel in Burbank, Ill. where they were staying. Haro and Cornejo were arrested the same day after law enforcement officers stopped them on Interstate Highway-55 and discovered a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of marijuana in the truck bed, according to U.S. ICE.
"Working together with our local and federal law enforcement partners we identified and disrupted this smuggling and distribution conspiracy," said Gary Hartwig, special agent in charge of the U.S. ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago. "This investigation is continuing to dismantle the illegal organization completely."
U.S. ICE was assisted in the investigation by the following agencies: U.S Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Unit in Detroit, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Chicago Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kness, Northern District of Illinois, is prosecuting the case. If convicted, each defendant faces a minimum of five years and up to 40 years in prison.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.

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