9 Southern California residents charged in suspected drug trafficking pipeline with ties to Canada, Mexico

Nine Southern California residents have been charged in federal indictments targeting an alleged drug pipeline in which suspected members of a crime ring imported hundreds of pounds of cocaine and other narcotics from Mexico into Los Angeles bound for elsewhere in the United

States and for Canada, officials said.

Two federal grand jury indictments unsealed Tuesday in Los Angeles charge 19 defendants for alleged roles in the organization, including accused importers, distributors, truck drivers and large-scale buyers.

“Today is an example of society pushing back,” said

Donald Alway, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office.

Authorities said the ring used Canadian handlers and dispatchers who traveled to Los Angeles to coordinate the pickup and delivery of large shipments of cocaine and methamphetamine. The drugs were loaded onto long-haul semitrucks and driven from the

United States to Canada via the Detroit Windsor Tunnel, the Buffalo Peace Bridge, and the Blue Water Bridge, investigators said.

The indictments allege the operation involved about 1,860 pounds of methamphetamine, 2,092 pounds of cocaine, 44 pounds of fentanyl and nearly nine pounds of heroin with an estimated total wholesale value of $16 million to $28 million. In addition, more than $900,000 was seized.

The yearslong investigation was announced at a news conference in Westwood by officials from the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other agencies.

The nine Southern California

defendants were between 22 to 53 years old. They live in Long Beach, Hemet, Riverside, Santa Ana and Ontario.

The defendants face federal charges such as drug trafficking and drug exportation conspiracies. If convicted as charged, each could face 40 years to life in federal prison, prosecutors said.