San Diegan Grand Jury Indicts Four Dozen for Smuggling Heroin


Aired 4/19/09

(Photo courtesy of U.S. attorney's office.)

A federal grand jury in San Diego has indicted nearly four dozen people for allegedly smuggling heroin and other drugs from Columbia to the United States.

Special Agent Serge Duarte of Immigration and Customs Enforcement says the drugs were typically stitched inside jackets, pants, or false compartments of suitcases, then routed to couriers based in Mexicali.

Duarte : These Mexicali-based couriers smuggled whatever contraband the organizations paid them to smuggle, including heroin, cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine, and quality counterfeit US currency which is very unusual.

Authorities say they seized a million dollars worth of phony $100 bills, plus heroin worth an estimated $35 million.

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