News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 29, 2001

DEA/HIDTA PONCE RESIDENT OFFICE ARRESTS 13 MEMBERS OF A MAYAGUEZ BASED COCAINE AND HEROIN DISTRIBUTION ORGANIZATION

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Rogelio Guevara, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Caribbean Field Division, announced today the arrest of 13 individuals of a cocaine and heroin distribution organization based in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The arrests were the result of a complex criminal conspiracy investigation initiated in June of 1999 by the DEA's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Ponce, PR Resident Office and FBI Aguadilla Resident Office which lead to Federal Grand Jury indictments charging the members of the organization with multiple violations to the Federal Controlled Substances Act. This drug trafficking organization was lead by Wilfredo TORRES-Figueroa, alias Ado, of Mayaguez, PR. The DEA/HIDTA Ponce Resident Office investigation revealed that the TORRES-Figueroa organization was the source of supply for multiple drug points throughout the Municipality of Mayaguez and the western area of Puerto Rico.

During the early morning hours of Tuesday, August 28, 2001, a task force of over 100 Federal and Commonwealth law enforcement agents simultaneously executed the 13 arrests warrants in the Municipalities of San German, Mayaguez and Añasco, PR. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS), the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), the Puerto Rico Police Department, the Puerto Rico Special Investigations Bureau (NIE) and the Puerto Rico Treasury Department (Hacienda) participated in the operation. The Puerto Rico National Guard Counterdrug Support Task Force provided logistical support to the operation.

The arrested individuals were: Wilfredo TORRES-Figueroa, Raul FERRER-Ramos, Raul FERRER-Aguilar, Rafael SOTO-Roman, Irving TORRES-Figueroa, Carlos Omar COLON-Acevedo, Carlos MERCADO-Jimenez, Rufino SOTO-Roman, William CORTES-Morel, Jose MEDINA-Padilla, Walter ROMAN-Lugo, Brenda RIVERA-Agostini, and Yanira FERRER-Aguilar.