Two Mexican nationals caught in Boston with 15 kilos of cocaine

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BOSTON, MA.- FBI Boston with assistance from Massachusetts State Police arrested two men from Mexico who brought 15 kilograms of cocaine into the state.

State Police spokesperson David Procopio said that investigators were able to track a tractor-trailer that was allegedly driven by Gerardo Madrigal Quintero, 23, of Culiacan, Mexico to the Ludlow Service Plaza Monday night.

After witnesses reported seeing an exchange of narcotics between Quintero and Joel Enrique Armenta Castro, 30, of Mochis Sinaloa, Mexico, authorities arrested Castro. A short time later, troopers from the State Police-Westfield Barracks stopped the tractor-trailer operated by Quintero on Route 91 South in Longmeadow and took him into custody without incident.

Officials said they seized approximately 15 kilograms of cocaine and the tractor-trailer that Quintero was driving. The current estimated street value of the drugs is more than $500,000.

“The cocaine that troopers, agents, and task force officers prevented from reaching the streets of Massachusetts through this investigation was worth more than half a million dollars to its suppliers in Mexico,” said Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police. “Had it reached its destination it would have been cut up, packaged, and sold throughout our communities, and it would have caused violence, ruined families, and ended lives. The Massachusetts State Police will continue to work with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to interdict drug traffickers and their deadly product.”

Quintero and Castro are charged with trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine and conspiracy to violate drug law. Both men were held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on September 2.

This case is being investigated by the FBI Boston Division, members of the Massachusetts State Police Narcotics Section, the Concord, Hudson, Peabody, Reading, Waltham, and Watertown Police Departments, Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department.

Source: Boston 25 News NOW

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