SEATTLE — Federal authorities say they seized 50 pounds of heroin and more than 100 pounds of methamphetamine over a two-year investigation into a drug trafficking ring working in Snohomish and King counties.
A dozen people were arrested Thursday as Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other agencies raided 10 locations in the two counties. The majority of the suspects lived in Snohomish County, including Marysville, Stanwood and Everett.
Court documents detail a sophisticated operation with dozens of players.
The suspected ringleader, Carlos Antonio Villa-Alvarez, lived in Marysville off 89th Place NE. Investigators say another house on 122nd Street in Marysville was the “hub” of the organization’s activity. Detectives have been monitoring the hub using remote cameras since December, according to a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. Detectives also listened in on hundreds of phone calls.
Authorities believe Villa-Alvarez is in Mexico.
During Thursday’s raids, police seized 14 pounds of heroin, 43 pounds of methamphetamine, a large amount of cash and eight handguns, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
To date, police have seized more than $1.1 million tied to the trafficking ring.
A federal grand jury last week indicted 20 people, including Villa-Alvarez, with conspiracy to distribute drugs.
The investigation was led by the DEA with assistance from the Snohomish Regional Drug and Gang Task Force and the Seattle Police Department.
Heroin deaths rates have quadrupled over the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Snohomish County, heroin and prescription opioids were responsible for two-thirds of the 130 accidental overdose deaths in 2013.
The sheriff’s office reported in June that more than 90 percent of the inmates in the county jail’s medical unit were withdrawing from heroin. Meanwhile, roughly 70 percent of those admitted to the county’s only publicly funded detox facility report that heroin is their drug of choice.
Heroin use exploded in recent years as people addicted to prescription pain medications looked for a cheaper alternative.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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