More than 33,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $468 million was offloaded by the U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday in San Diego.

Officials say the drugs were seized through eight separate smuggling vessel interdictions in February and March of this year.

The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro, which offloaded the cocaine on Tuesday, seized the drugs from vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America.

Rear Admiral Andrew Sugimoto, commander of Coast Guard District 11, said in a statement, “I am extremely proud of this crew and their dedication to disrupting organized crime in the Eastern Pacific. The effort put in while interdicting more than 33,000 lbs of cocaine in a few weeks’ time is unparalleled.”

The seizures took place on:

• Feb. 21, 3,946 lbs of cocaine seized
• Feb. 24, 3,803 lbs of cocaine seized
• Feb. 26, 3,108 lbs of cocaine seized
• March 10, 4,709 lbs of cocaine seized
• March 17, 7,852 lbs of cocaine seized
• March 18, 2,841 lbs of cocaine seized
• March 18, 2,841 lbs of cocaine seized
• March 23, 4,784 lbs of cocaine seized

“The crew put in an incredible amount of work over very long hours, and I couldn’t be prouder of them,” said Capt. Rula Deisher, Coast Guard Cutter Munro’s commanding officer. “Their dedication and grit goes to show that Munro is one of the best national security cutters in the fleet, and we are committed to keeping the country safe by stopping illegal drugs before they hit the street.”

City News Service contributed to this article.

A Baja California state police officer who tried to drive through the San Ysidro Port of Entry in a drug-laden vehicle pleaded guilty Thursday to a federal drug count.

Victor Alfonso Moreno-Mejia, 35, who Mexican officials said had been an officer for seven years, was arrested last September with around 100 pounds of cocaine in his car.

A criminal complaint states Moreno-Mejia’s vehicle was inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, who discovered 35 packages hidden in the driver’s seat, passenger seat and rear seats.

According to the complaint, Moreno-Mejia told investigators that he did not know drugs were in his car, but stated that a few days earlier, he had left his car at a mechanic’s shop in Tijuana that he had previously investigated “for having possible ties to cartels.”

His plea agreement states Moreno-Mejia left his vehicle at the mechanic’s shop for one week and was told that after picking it up, he’d have to drive the car into the U.S. Prosecutors allege he did not inspect what his vehicle might contain, but was aware of the possibility it had been loaded with drugs.

Moreno-Mejia is the third person employed in Baja California law enforcement and criminal justice circles arrested in San Diego County within the last year for drug smuggling offenses.

Earlier this year, an ex-employee of the Baja California prosecutor’s office pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He had driven a car loaded with drugs across the border and handing it over to a co-defendant in National City.

Another Baja police officer, Mizraim Berumen Gascon, pleaded guilty to state charges of methamphetamine importatation and was sentenced to a stint in county jail.

– City News Service

Cocaine worth an estimated $3 million was discovered hidden in a shipment of limes at the Otay Mesa border crossing, officials said Monday.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, at about 11:22 a.m. Thursday, CBP officers encountered a 42-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested as Persian limes at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility.

The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by officers along with the tractor-trailer and shipment. In the secondary inspection area, a CBP K-9 unit screened the shipment and alerted officers to examine the trailer more closely, according to the agency.

Upon further examination, CBP officers discovered and extracted 158 suspicious packages. The contents of the packages were tested and identified as cocaine with a weight of 435 pounds with an estimated street value of $3,355,800, CBP officials said.

“Rain or shine our officers work tirelessly to ensure our communities are free of these dangerous drugs,” said Rosa Hernandez, Port Director for the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. “I’m proud of the efforts our officers make day in and day out.”

–City News Service

Customs and Border Protection officers at San Ysidro seized $1.1 million worth of cocaine concealed in a commercial passenger bus, the agency reported Friday.

The seizure occurred on Saturday just after 10 p.m. when officers stopped a 64-year-old man attempting to drive the bus through the port of entry and referred him to further inspection.

A scanner showed “irregularities in the spare tire” and a drug-sniffing dog indicated the presence of drugs.

CBP officers discovered a total of 60 packages concealed within the air conditioning exchange and spare tire of the bus. A total of 45 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $1.1 million were recovered.

“Interdictions like this highlight our collective efforts to continually prevent dangerous drugs from entering our communities,” said Mariza Marin, director of the port.  

CBP seized the bus, and the man driving it was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing.  

A former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy who had cocaine in his car at a county jail was sentenced Wednesday to two years of probation.

Allen Wereski, 49, pleaded guilty last year to a felony count of possessing drugs on jail property for having cocaine at the Vista Detention Facility.

Immediately following his arrest in February, the department said he was suspended without pay.

Sheriff’s Lt. David LaDieu said in a statement that Wereski “separated from employment with the sheriff’s department on Feb. 10, 2023,” which was one week after his arrest. LaDieu said peace officer personnel privacy laws prevented the department from disclosing any other information regarding his separation from the department.

Wereski’s arrest was the second of a San Diego County sheriff’s deputy last year related to drugs. Cory Richey, a deputy who stole prescription medication from a drop-off box at a patrol station, later pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to two years of probation.

An alleged Ecuadorian drug trafficker accused of supplying cocaine to some of Mexico’s most powerful cartels made his initial appearance Friday in a San Diego federal courtroom.

Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan, 43, was indicted by a grand jury in 2019 for allegedly taking part in the trafficking of cocaine from Colombia, through Ecuador, and then to the United States, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors say Sanchez Farfan, also known as Gato, led an organization that was a “major source of supply for the Sinaloa Cartel and the New Generation Jalisco Cartel in Mexico.”

In 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Sanchez Farfan, calling him “one of the most significant drug traffickers in the world today” in a statement.

Sanchez Farfan was arrested last year in Colombia and arrived in San Diego on Thursday. He pleaded not guilty during his initial court appearance and a judge ordered him detained pending trial.

A former Baja California prosecutor’s office employee who drove a cocaine-laden vehicle into the United States pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Monday to conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Ana Sofia Lopez Osuna, 32, was arrested last year for driving a car loaded with about 55 pounds of cocaine from Mexico into the U.S., then handing the car over to a man in National City, according to her plea agreement.

That man, Oliver Alan Rosas Gomez, then took the car to a residence, unloaded the drugs and returned the car to Lopez Osuna.

Lopez Osuna was stopped while driving her vehicle and officers found a non-factory compartment in the car’s rear bumper that turned out to be empty. Lopez Osuna claimed to officers that she had been shopping while on her lunch break from her job in Tijuana.

Then-Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Ivan Carpio told the San Diego Union-Tribune last year that Lopez Osuna began working for the prosecutor’s office in 2015 and her work largely involved “administrative tasks.”

She’s slated to be sentenced in April following Monday’s change of plea hearing.

Rosas Gomez was arrested later at the home and court documents state the intention was for him to transport the drugs to Los Angeles. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

City News Service contributed to this article.

A man who prosecutors say was responsible for transporting hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United States over the course of over three decades was sentenced in San Diego federal court Friday to nearly 22 years in prison.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Raul Flores-Hernandez, 71, of Guadalajara, Mexico, led a drug trafficking organization with ties to cartel leaders like Sinaloa Cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Hector Beltran of the Beltran Leya Organization.

Prosecutors said Flores-Hernandez, who is also known as “El Tio,” arranged for cocaine to be transported from Colombia, Peru and Bolivia to Mexican ports. There, the drugs were moved by land into the United States.

Flores-Hernandez also bribed government employees in exchange for their assistance in his trafficking activities, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

He was arrested in 2017 by Mexican authorities and extradited to the United States in 2021.

Along with his 262-month prison sentence, Flores-Hernandez was ordered to forfeit $280 million in drug proceeds.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility have discovered more than $10 million worth of hard drugs submerged in yet another unexpected place.

At approximately 10:36 a.m. Wednesday, a 28-year-old male driving a commercial tractor-trailer approached the facility with a shipment listed on manifests as jalapeño paste.

The driver, a valid border crossing card holder, was referred for further examination by CBP officers along with the vehicle and shipment.

In the secondary inspection area, a CBP K-9 unit screened the shipment and alerted officers to examine the trailer more closely.

Upon further examination, officers discovered and extracted a total of 349 suspicious packages from vats of jalapeño paste. The contents of the packages were tested and identified as methamphetamine weighing 3,161 pounds and cocaine weighing 522 pounds.

“Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequalled mobile detection capability,” said Rosa Hernandez, Otay Mesa’s port director.

CBP officers seized the narcotics and tractor-trailer while the driver was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing. The estimated street value of the narcotics is $10.43 million.

The U.S. Coast Guard has offloaded more than 18,000 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value near $239 million, in San Diego.

Six separate suspected drug smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America were intercepted by the crews of the USCGC Waesche and Active. The seizures took place on November missions, according to federal officials.

The Waesche made four of the seizures, totaling more than 14,000 pounds. The largest came on Nov. 20., when the Coast Guard crew took in 5,534 pounds from a self-propelled semi-submersible or “narco-submarine.”

The interdiction of the semi-submersible was the first in the Eastern Pacific since 2020.

The Active had two seizures on Nov. 23-24 totaling nearly 3,900 pounds.

“I am extremely impressed with the crew’s dedication throughout this dynamic patrol. They overcame multiple challenges with collective hard work, ingenuity and positive attitudes to keep us in pursuit of these cartels and their dangerous drugs,” said Capt. Robert Mohr, commanding officer of the Waesche.

Multiple agencies played a role in the counter-narcotic operation, including the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, DEA, and the U.S. Navy, along with international partners.

“I am proud of the unity of effort displayed by U.S. Coast Guard members aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche and our partners who stopped these narcotics from entering our nation through the maritime domain,” said Vice Adm. Andrew Tiongson, commander, U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area.

The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is conducted under the authority of the 11th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Alameda County.

– City News Service