JW Confirms: 154 lbs. of Heroin in NY Bust Came Via El Paso

A federal law enforcement official with first-hand knowledge of the case tells Judicial Watch that the record-breaking 154 pounds of heroin seized in New York this week entered the United States from Mexico through El Paso, Texas.

The El Paso connection has been omitted from the government’s announcement as well as media coverage of the astounding drug bust, which authorities say is the single largest heroin seizure in New York state history and the fourth largest in the nation. The massive load of narcotics and cash was recovered from a vehicle and an apartment in the Fieldston section of the Bronx, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), which confirms that the heroin came from an area of Mexico (Culican) controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel.

The cargo was conservatively estimated to be worth $50 million and the feds say the Bronx ring had been receiving large shipments at least once a month to supply customers in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The DEA also seized around $2 million in cash and a firearm. A special DEA narcotics prosecutor in the agency’s Special Investigations Bureau, said the load was so large it could supply a dose of heroin to every man, woman and child in New York City. The DEA special agent in charge of the operation said the huge narcotics bust proves that New York City is “the bull’s eye for drug traffickers and heroin is their weapon.”

But no one has addressed how such enormous quantities of narcotics regularly flow into the U.S. from Mexico through the allegedly “secure” southern border. This particular cargo made its way north via El Paso, a hub of narco-terror. Last fall Judicial Watch launched a news series focusing on the nexus of Islamic terror and drug cartel trafficking operating from El Paso. One sophisticated operation analyzed by JW has connections running from El Paso to Chicago to New York City and key players include two of the FBI’s “most wanted.” One of the main operatives, Emad Karakrah, smuggled drugs and weapons for the Juarez drug cartel in Mexico and more recently went on a supply run for a militant Islamist cell operating out of a basement in Brooklyn, according to JW’s law enforcement sources.

Just last month JW reported that ISIS is operating in a Mexican border town just eight miles from El Paso. According to JW’s law enforcement sources Islamic terrorists have joined forces with drug cartels and human smugglers (known as “coyotes”) are used to move ISIS operatives through the desert and across the porous southern border. It’s likely that this powerful team effort between Islamic terrorists and drug cartels is also benefitting the lucrative narcotics business. As far back as 2007 the DEA reported that Islamic extremists and Mexican drug cartels teamed up to smuggle weapons and terrorists into the U.S. The partnership makes plenty of sense, the DEA assessed at the time, since Mexican drug traffickers and terrorists operate in a clandestine environment and both groups utilize similar methodologies to function.