Anonymous - 9-29-2005 at 07:15 AM
http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?OSGNAME=KUSA&IKOBJECT...
9/28/2005
DENVER - DEA agents have announced the seizure of 24 kilograms of cocaine which, they say, was brought to the United States from Mexico. Three people
were arrested in the operation.
Undercover DEA agents negotiated with Tijuana plastic surgeon Fernando Rodriguez-Pina for the delivery of the drugs to undercover personnel in Denver,
according to a DEA news release. The cocaine was delivered Wednesday via tractor-trailer to agents at the Pilot Truck Stop located at Vasquez &
Interstate 70.
The 24 kilos of cocaine was contained in a black duffel bag and the cocaine was divided into 24 separate brick-shaped packages. Rodriguez-Pina, Carlos
Rodriguez-Coronel, and the truck driver, Uriel Velasco-Gonzalez were arrested at the scene by Denver Police Department S.W.A.T.
The DEA says the cocaine seized Wednesday has a street value of more than $3 million.
"This investigation again shows that the Denver Metro area figures prominently in the drug trade as a transportation route from the southern border to
U.S. cities," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey D. Sweetin. "Today's seizure sends a strong message to drug distribution trafficking
organizations that the DEA will continue to aggressively pursue them from outside the U.S., as well as within."
All three suspects are being charged by complaint in U.S. District Court with "conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute" and "possession with
intent to distribute" more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
If convicted the defendants face 10 years to life in prison, $4 million in fines, or both.