EVERETT — Snohomish County prosecutors charged a 26-year-old man Monday with four drug trafficking related felonies. The suspect allegedly worked for a larger drug network, with his distribution spanning King, Snohomish and Skagit counties.
This operation was “the last chapter” in the King County Sheriff’s Office’s Operation Eastbound and Down, an investigation into a Sinaloa Cartel-linked drug network, according to the sheriff’s office’s social media post.
In November, King County investigators announced search warrants in Bridgeport, Lynnwood, Kirkland, Arlington and Bothell led to multiple arrests and the recovery of $1.6 million worth of narcotics, sheriff’s office social media posts said.
Around 5:25 p.m. Dec. 17, King County Sheriff’s Office detectives initiated a traffic stop of the suspect’s vehicle in the 16700 block of Alderwood Mall Parkway in Lynnwood, near the suspect’s residence, according to court documents. Officers arrested the suspect and discovered two cell phones, three packages wrapped in black plastic containing 129 separate packages of methamphetamine weighing 127.64 pounds and $332.
During the arrest, detectives surveyed the suspect’s residence in case of a “burn plan,” when drug trafficking organizations attempt to clear out evidence before law enforcement arrives, court documents said. They observed a Prius back into the suspect’s garage before leaving a few minutes later.
During a traffic stop of the Prius, K-9 unit Quinn alerted a detective to the presence of narcotics in the vehicle, court documents said. A search of the vehicle yielded 85.85 pounds of methamphetamine among 86 packages, 4.72 pounds of heroin among four packages, $89,578 and a notebook that appeared to be a drug ledger. Detectives also searched the residence, where they found 111 grams of heroin and materials similar to those the drugs were packaged in.
During this incident, detectives located $89,780 in cash believed to be drug proceeds, around 5 pounds of Heroin and around 214 pounds of methamphetamine, the post said. The estimated street value of the narcotics equaled $2 million.
Law enforcement booked the suspect into Snohomish County Jail on suspicion of four counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture or deliver.
A King County Sheriff’s Office report referred to the suspect as “in the highest tier of drug distributors in the state.” The suspect was allegedly obtaining bulk quantities of drugs, redistributing them to lower-level distributors and passing off the proceeds to be moved out of the country, court documents said.
Jenna Millikan: 425-339-3035; jenna.millikan@heraldnet.com. X: @JennaMillikan
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