
Eleven individuals have been sentenced to a collective 123 years in federal prison following the dismantling of a drug trafficking ring with ties to a Mexican cartel that illegally distributed methamphetamine and fentanyl across the Midwest. In a report by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana, from September 2021 to November 2022, the defendants conspired to distribute nearly 400 pounds of methamphetamine and upwards of seven kilograms of fentanyl, utilizing methods including the U.S. Postal Service, trains, and commercial vehicles.
Efforts to curb the operation came to a head when Erick Romero, identified as the ringleader, and other key figures were apprehended by law enforcement. On one occasion, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents moved to quickly disrupt a shipment when traffickers attempted to retrieve drugs from a rail car in Nebraska. The operation, coordinated by Romero, was foiled resulting in the seizure of over 68 kilograms of methamphetamine and seven kilograms of fentanyl.
Further investigations led to significant drug discoveries, with DEA agents recovering 56 kilograms of methamphetamine marked "HECHO EN MEXICO" stuffed inside PVC pipes at the Indianapolis home of defendants Islas-Lozada and Castillo. On the same day, Romero was detained at his home where another 10.7 kilograms of methamphetamine and thirteen firearms were found, as stated in the press release on the U.S. Attorney's Office website.
The operation also highlighted the use of firearms by traffickers to protect their illicit activities with law enforcement seizing a total of 20 firearms during searches in Indianapolis. "International cartels have flooded our communities with poisons," U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Myers notably commented, stressing the necessity to dismantle these networks. DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Michael Gannon echoed this sentiment in a statement obtained by the U.S. Attorney's Office, praising the joint work of various agencies that "fully unravel a sophisticated international drug trafficking organization linked to the Sinaloa Cartel."
This multifaceted bust was the result of collaboration between the DEA, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, along with assistance from the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and other federal bodies. The concerted effort formed part of wider strategies such as the Indiana High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) Program, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aim to disrupt and eradicate top-level drug trafficking and violent crime to improve community safety.