By Kim Minugh
The Sacramento Bee
What does $200 million dollars look like?
Dope. A lot of it
– like 635 pounds.
Flanked by local, state and federal counterparts, Sacramento
County sheriff’s authorities proudly displayed the spoils of last
Thursday’s drug bust in Gilroy – what one authority described as a
once-in-a-lifetime operation.
By Kim Minugh
The Sacramento Bee
What does $200 million dollars look like?
Dope. A lot of it – like 635 pounds.
Flanked by local, state and federal counterparts, Sacramento County sheriff’s authorities proudly displayed the spoils of last Thursday’s drug bust in Gilroy – what one authority described as a once-in-a-lifetime operation.
“Somebody’s painfully missing their investment right now,” said sheriff’s Lt. Fred Links, who oversees the department’s multiagency drug task forces.
Last week’s bust of a Mexican-based drug trafficking operation appears to be the largest seizure of methamphetamine – more than 600 pounds – ever recorded in the country’s history, according to authorities.
Flanked by local, state and federal authorities, Sacramento County sheriff’s authorities marveled Tuesday at the magnitude of Thursday’s bust, which culminated a yearlong investigation that began with a street-level transaction in Sacramento.
The methamphetamine, discovered in various stages of production in a Gilroy home, is so concentrated that it could be diluted three- to four times before being sold on the street, said Links.
That would mean more than 2,500 pounds of diluted dope worth upward of $200 million on the street had the raid not occurred, he said.
“These are alarming numbers, I assure you,” Links said.
Investigators believe the home located at 2250 Roop Road, about two miles east of the Gilroy Premium Outlets, housed the primary methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution hub for the entire California Central Valley.
Authorities arrested eight men, all Mexican nationals, in connection with the operation, which processed and distributed drugs supplied from Mexico throughout the United States, according to officials.
An average of $250,000 was sent back to ringleaders in Mexico daily. On one particularly lucrative day, $650,000 was sent, Links said.
The arrested men will be prosecuted in Sacramento, where the case began. They face life in prison based on the allegations, Links said.
“I tell you that is rewarding for me,” he said.
