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Feds indict 30 linked to Southern California drug rings
File: Detective Paul Baker holds two rocks of crystal meth with a street value of NZD$83,000 alongside firearms that were confiscated as part of Operation Slab at the North Shore Policing Centre on August 19, 2010 in Auckland, New Zealand.
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Federal authorities have indicted more than two dozen people linked to a couple of Southern California drug rings.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Rasha Gerges, deputy chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force in Los Angeles, spoke with KPCC.
"The indictment stems from a 20-month investigation involving federal wiretaps of several individuals involved in two different transportation networks that were used by drug suppliers in Mexico to transport methamphetamine and cocaine in hidden compartments into the United States," Gerges said.
During "Operation Mountain Top," Gerges says agents confiscated 92 pounds of meth — and 50 kilograms of cocaine.
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Authorities have already arrested seven of the 30 people indicted in the case.
"Six individuals arrested in the Central District of California, and another individual was arrested crossing the United States Mexico border," said Gerges.
Those arrested, according to Gerges, include Karine Elizabeth Barajas, Luis Mendiaz Deniz, David Lopez Hernandez, Ladiz Anthony Martinez, Carlos Alfonso Marroquin-Flores, Mayra Alejandra Sandoval and Victor Manuel Munoz.
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