Law enforcement in Seattle has dismantled a massive drug trafficking ring operating in homeless camps and seized enough fentanyl to kill the entire city twice.
The operation was centered in the city’s homeless encampments and Chinatown-International District.
“Fourteen individuals were indicted in late May 2025, and eleven were taken into custody during a series of coordinated arrests across Washington, Oregon, and Southern California,” the Post Millennial reports.
The suspects are accused of trafficking drugs from California into Washington.
The investigation began in November 2023 and was a coordinated effort involving the Seattle Police Department, the FBI, the DEA, and other agencies under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF).
“For years, this criminal organization preyed on the homeless and drug addicted,” said Seattle Police Chief Shon F. Barnes, according to the Post Millennial. “They terrorized people living and working in the Chinatown-International District and South Seattle. I am proud of the work our detectives and federal partners have done to put these criminals behind bars where they belong.”
In March 2025 alone, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of meth, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilos of heroin, drugs with a street value nearing $3 million. The outlet reports that a later operation in May netted “7 kilograms of cocaine, 18 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 57,000 fentanyl pills, 17 firearms, and over $353,000 in cash.”
Acting US Attorney Teal Luthy Miller said of the busts, “Now we are prosecuting fourteen additional defendants,” Miller said. “Law enforcement partners continued to pursue drug traffickers… to address the importation of substances like fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into western Washington generally and the International District in particular.”
“These traffickers didn’t just operate locally,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge W. Mike Herrington. “[They] made frequent trips into Oregon and California. We are now reaching sources of supply, further stopping these poisons—and the violence that accompanies them—from reaching our communities.”
TPM reports:
Authorities are still determining the immigration or citizenship status of several suspects but many of the people in custody are already known to be in the US illegally. According to court documents obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Luis Soto Lara was previously deported and illegally re-entered the US multiple times in 2007, 2009, 2010, 2014 and convicted of re-entry after deportation in 2010.
Jose Garcia Corona was expedited for removal from the US in 2001. He was cited for another immigration violation in 2005 and charged in 2009 with fraud and misuse of visas. Juan Lopez Roblero was deported in 2006 and 2013. He was cited for immigration violations in 2006, 2011, and 2013.
Marco Antonio Bobadilla Gonzalez was born in Mexico and has no verified ties to the community, or employment. Isai Gamboa Pacheco’s birthplace is currently unknown and has no known ties to the community or verified employment or residency. Giovanni Antonio Garduno Garcia entered US with a false claim of citizenship.
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