WINTER HAVEN, Fla.–A multi-agency investigation resulted in the breakup of an international drug ring, with the arrest of 85 suspects and the seizure of firearms and $12.8 million worth of drugs, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd announced on Aug. 19.
Judd said the drugs—including enough fentanyl to kill 96,000 people—were “smuggled in suitcases” using domestic flights out of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). They would book a flight from California to Orlando, then check the luggage, but “never get on the flight.” The receiver picked up the luggage filled with drugs that were then distributed onto the “streets of Polk County.”
The sheriff picked up a large bag of methamphetamine for all to see.The investigation began in September 2020 when the sheriff’s office received information about the “Jefferson family” and that one of the family members was smuggling “large amounts of drugs into Florida from Mexico.”
The wiretap investigation began in February 2022, “during which a court-ordered intercept of communications between suspects within the criminal drug trafficking organization was initiated and monitored,” the sheriff told reporters.
