[dropcap size=big]L[/dropcap]aw enforcement officials arrested 13 people on drug and weapons charges, all suspected members of the Sinaloa Cartel. They were picked up on top of $11 million worth of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.
The bust was part of a year-long investigation in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County, said officials during a news conference Tuesday in Thousand Oaks.
The investigation began about a year ago, when members of a Ventura County Sheriff’s task force began looking into one operation suspected of distributing bulk amounts of drugs to people in the area. “It started with a street level case in West County, over the hill in Camarillo. And that’s when the first seizures started to take place” said Undersheriff Gary Penits during the press briefing.
'This dope is supplying the thieves and tweekers taking packages off your porch.'
From that first bust, detectives ended up seizing a cache of illicit drugs and money: 161 pounds of methamphetamine, 121 pounds of cocaine, 13 pounds of heroin, nearly 7 pounds of fentanyl, 600 fentanyl pills, 12 firearms, and more than $353,000 in cash. The combined street value of the drugs added up to more than $10,800,000, officials said.