HOUSTON – Multiple local and national law enforcement agencies gathered Wednesday afternoon to announce "significant" law enforcement activity involving numerous arrests related to drug trafficking crimes in the Houston and Galveston areas.
Investigators said 47 people have been taken into custody as part of "Operation Wrecking Ball." Many of those individuals were identified as Dominican nationals, and investigators said they were part of a scheme to transport drugs like cocaine and heroin in and around the Houston area, as well as to Atlanta, Miami and New York.
Many of the people arrested had stash houses in Galveston County, specifically in Dickinson, Santa Fe and League City.
Traffickers from Mexico were transporting more than 100 kilos of cocaine to Houston every month, officials said. Within the Houston and Galveston areas, there were six distribution cells, which perpetuated the dispersion.
The operation targeted individuals from every level of the operation, investigators said. The warrants executed Wednesday resulted in the seizure of cocaine, heroin, money and vehicles.
In Houston alone, somewhere between $1 million to $3 million was found, investigators said, adding that not all of the money had been counted yet.
The agencies include the U.S. Attorney's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, Houston Police Department, Galveston Police Department, IRS-Criminal Investigation and U.S. Marshals Service.
The U.S. Attorney's Office released the names of those who have been arrested. To see those names, click here. Officials also released what they have been charged with. To see that information, click here.
To read the full, unsealead indictment, click here.
VIDEO: U.S. Attorney's Office discusses drug trafficking arrests in Operation Wrecking Ball