A massive statewide drug trafficking operation resulted in nearly 20 arrests on Tuesday, including nine Southern California locals.
The federal investigation, dubbed Operation Dead Hand, targeted an alleged drug pipeline ran by an organized crime ring that ran from Mexico to Canada in which hundreds of pounds of cocaine and other narcotics were distributed throughout the United States.
Two federal grand jury indictments were unsealed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, which collectively charged 19 defendants, including nine Southern California natives, for their alleged roles in the organization that included suspect importers, distributors, truck drivers and large-scale buyers.
“Today is an example of society pushing back,” said Donald Alway, the Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Investigators say that the ring used Canadian handlers and dispatchers, who traveled from Canada to Los Angeles to coordinate pickup and delivery of large shipments that contained cocaine and methamphetamine. The drugs were then loaded onto semi trucks and driven from the US to Canada via the Detroit Windsor Tunnel, Buffalo Peace Bridge and the Blue Water Bridge.