A drug cartel with ties to Mexico that authorities say was moving heroin and methamphetamine on the streets of Indianapolis was hit in pre-dawn raids Wednesday, Fox 59 reported.
The raids started with what neighbors described as a loud flash bomb that rattled nearby homes. A coalition of nearly 200 local and federal agents, named Operation Code Red, swarmed homes and handcuffed most of the individuals named on a 25-person list.
Fox 59 reported that authorities recovered more than 20 pounds of drugs, cash and 16 guns in one of the raids.
“Drug trafficking is a violent business, you have people who commit robberies, murder to protect their turf,” Ryan Mear, a spokesman from the Marion County Prosecutors Office, said. “When you bring these drugs into central Indiana there’s going to be significant consequences and we are ready to deal and tackle these problems.”
The Indy Channel reported that Alfonso Pineda-Hernandez, 30, and Nicolas Cazares-Garcia, 28, received large amounts of methamphetamine from sources in Mexico and redistributed in Indianapolis. The two were arrested in the raids.
Most of the federal charges carry a sentence from 10 years to life in prison.
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