PHOENIX (CBS5) -
Tempe police dismantled a drug trafficking ring associated with Sinaloa Cartel after a six-month investigation, Tempe police said Friday.
Operation Nayarit Stampede resulted in 20 arrests and the confiscation of 14 firearms, $2.4 million in cash, 3 tons of marijuana, 30 pounds of methamphetamine, a Cessna 421 C Aircraft and 10 vehicles, police said.
The operation, conducted in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Agency, stemmed from an investigation into possible drop houses in the 1200 block of West Jeanine Drive and the 1200 block South McClintock Drive in Tempe, police said.
Based on information obtained from the drop houses, detectives pieced together evidence of a drug ring connected to the Sinaloa Cartel that distributed drugs to Tempe, New York, Alabama, California and other parts of the country, police said.
The Sinaloa Cartel is a drug trafficking criminal organization based out of Mexico headed by Leonel Galvez Leal, Norberto Meza Montoya and Jose Alonzo Rodriguez Rosas, according to police.
Tempe Chief of Police Tom Ryff said the operation was an excellent demonstration of a collaborative effort by state and federal law enforcement agencies
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