The operation that sprang from the informant's information "exposed those members of the Mexican drug cartels operating in our city, camouflaged, unbeknownst to the average citizen," said Zoran Yankovich, head of the DEA's Houston division.
More than $5 million and 3,000 pounds of cocaine were seized, which resulted in nine federal indictments for crimes ranging from homicide to robbery and kidnapping in the Houston area. The informant's identity remains a secret.
Some of the narcotics and cash were found in buses operating between the U.S. and Mexico. One bus owner, Elisa Castillo, was sentenced in May to life in prison. The 53-year-old grandmother told the Houston Chronicle in a jailhouse interview that she was tricked by a friend and is innocent.
The DEA says the traffickers worked mainly for the Gulf Cartel but sometimes helped other organizations.
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