Thaindian News

DENVER, COLORADO (BNO NEWS) – Mexico extradited drug lord Oscar Arriola to Colorado on Tuesday to face drug charges, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Arriola was identified as the head of an international cocaine trafficking organization that smuggled and distributed more than two tons of cocaine per month in the United States, allegedly collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds in the U.S., which was transported to Arriola and other leaders of the organization in Mexico.

An investigation began with an anonymous telephone tip that signaled a ranch property in Peyton, Colorado (east of Colorado Springs), which was suspected of being used to store large shipments of cocaine. It was later determined to be linked to the Arriola organization.

Law enforcement officers in the U.S. and Mexico coordinated investigative efforts from 2002 through 2004, seizing more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine, approximately $50 million in cash and other assets, and arresting 60 key members of the Arriola organization in the U.S.

Several drug and money transporters were operating practically non-stop, constantly delivering cocaine throughout the U.S. as one money transporter said he alone collected around $43 million in a 12-month period.

Evidence was later obtained that indicated that the organization had massive U.S. cocaine distribution networks in 17 different U.S. states.

Oscar Arriola was arrested in Mexico on February 2, 2006, as he was pending extradition to the U.S. ever since. He is now facing not less than 10 years, and up to life in federal prison, and up to a $4 million fine for drug trafficking and not more than 20 years imprisonment and/or a $500,000 fine for money laundering.

Arriola’s brother, Miguel, was extradited from Mexico to the U.S. in January of 2007, who had previously pleaded guilty, and is awaiting sentencing.

“Thanks to the extraordinary cooperation between our partners in Mexico, the Department of Justice in Washington, DEA field offices across the country, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado, a major drug kingpin has been extradited to Colorado to face charges of operating a massive drug distribution organization,” said U.S. Attorney David Gaouette.