DEA
Seizes Heroin-Laced Artwork
Major
Trafficking Organization Dismantled from Colombia to the Streets of
Boston, MA
![Example of artwork in which traffickers concealed heroin](pr113005afig1.jpg) |
Example
of artwork in which traffickers concealed heroin
|
(WASHINGTON, D.C.)
- Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Karen P. Tandy
today announced the results of DEA-led Operation High Step, a multi-jurisdictional,
multi-national investigation targeting a major drug trafficking organization
(DTO) that brought heroin from labs in Colombia to the streets of
Boston, MA, New York, NY, Chicago, IL, and Orlando FL. This year-long
investigation has so far resulted in the arrest of 78 individuals,
and the seizure of 78 kilograms of heroin, 39 kilograms of cocaine,
$1.4 million USC, and 20 weapons.
Operation High
Step revealed a sophisticated method of heroin trafficking into the
U.S. - the traffickers secreted concealed bricks of the heroin inside
of the porcelain frames of paintings, which drug dealers would then
shatter to retrieve the drugs for sale. The drug traffickers in this
Operation also smuggled the heroin into the U.S. by concealing shipments
in furniture, shoes, and clothing. They sewed heroin into the lining
of clothing and the soles of shoes shipped across American borders.
This investigation targeted every level of this organization, from
the Colombian source of supply to the wholesale distributors and
retail dealers.
![Shattered painting for heroin retrieval](pr113005afig2.jpg) |
Shattered
painting for heroin retrieval
|
“Behind
the allure of artwork lurked the poison of heroin," said DEA
Administrator Karen P. Tandy. “Heroin promises anything but
beauty -- forcing addiction, pain, and devastation on its users. ‘Operation
High Step’ shows that traffickers are working hard to get their
poison onto our streets, but DEA is relentless in keeping it where
it belongs: out of the picture.”
Operation High
Step resulted in 19 arrests in Colombia, including the leaders of
this organization, Alberto Bejarano-Ospina and Gonzalo Salazar-Oliveros,
based on indictments issued by the United States Attorney’s
Offices in the Eastern District of New York, Southern District of
New York, Northern District of Illinois, and the District of Massachusetts,
charging them with distribution of and conspiracy to distribute heroin.
The arrested individuals are now subject to extradition to the United
States.
![Heroin packages being removed from painting remain](pr113005afig3.jpg) |
Heroin
packages being removed from painting remains
|
This organization
was responsible for smuggling 25 kilograms of heroin into the United
States per month. This powerful DTO was consistently obtaining multi-kilogram
quantities of heroin from a lab near the Pereira, Colombia area and
coordinating the smuggling of heroin to American cities including
Boston, New York, Chicago, and Orlando. Following wholesale distribution
in those cities, the DTO would electronically transfer the ill-gotten
proceeds back to Colombia through wire transfers.
Operation High
Step was a joint investigation between DEA and the Colombian National
Police.
![Marketing Scheme](pr113005afig5.gif)