Mexican drug ring was smuggling cocaine from Texas, Arizona to Newark on Lear Jets

Federal Agents in New Jersey have announced that they have broken a Mexican drug ring that was using private jets to smuggle cocaine into Teterboro Airport.  Six men were arrested, and three Lear Jet aircraft were seized, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Of the six men, five men were Mexican nationals and one was from the Dominican Republic.

The jets were being used to ferry the drugs from Texas and Arizona to the northeast. The drugs were then taken to Manhattan, sold and distributed. The cash from the sale would be loaded into the jets for the return flight to Texas, Arizona and in some cases, California.

"It's likely this cocaine remained and was sold in the New York-New Jersey area," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marion Percell told the Record of Bergen County.

Each trip into Teterboro would see a load of some 50 to 90 kg of cocaine, and the return flights would carry between $300,000 and $3 million in cash, according to court documents. The Lears seized by federal agents are estimated to have a market value of several million dollars. Also seized in the operation were some five dozen kilograms of cocaine, several firearms and almost three-quarter million dollars in cash. The suspects were ordered held with out bail in Newark, where they will each face a sentence of life in prison if convicted.

"Not only did we arrest the individuals responsible for the importation and distribution of cocaine, but their multi-million-dollar transportation infrastructure was also removed," said Michael Pasterchick, special agent in charge of the Newark DEA office.

FMI: www.dea.gov