KIRKLAND, Wash. — A quiet apartment complex in Kirkland gave little indication of the international drug investigation that had been building for months.
When detectives from the King County Sheriff’s Office forced their way inside in October, they found almost no furniture. Instead, according to court documents, the unit held tightly packed, vacuum-sealed bricks containing pounds of methamphetamine, fentanyl powder and cocaine — a stash investigators say was part of a supply line stretching to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
The raid was one of several search warrants executed across western Washington as part of “Operation Eastbound and Down,” a months-long undercover effort led by the sheriff’s office’s Precinct Four Special Emphasis Team, a small cadre of four narcotics detectives and a K-9 handler. Working largely out of public view, the team focuses exclusively on drug trafficking cases, surveilling suppliers and building cases that often involve international players…