19 people charged in a crackdown targeting heavily-armed drug trafficking organizations tied to Mexican cartel: Feds

Federal authorities announced a crackdown on a drug and gun ring in Indiana on Friday, June 23, 2023. Inset photos from left: Joaquin Carranza, Jaraughn Bertram, and Jordan Sumner (Law enforcement handout mugshot photos; Crime scene screenshot from CBS4 Indy)

Federal authorities announced a crackdown on a drug and gun ring in Indiana on Friday, June 23, 2023. Inset photos from left: Joaquin Carranza, Jaraughn Bertram, and Jordan Sumner (Law enforcement handout mugshot photos; Crime scene screenshot from CBS4 Indy)

Nineteen people have been charged in raids targeting drug traffickers tied to Mexican cartels with arsenals of weapons, including machine guns, that shipped fentanyl by mail from Arizona to Indiana.

As part of the operation, federal, state, and local law enforcement officers from 16 agencies served arrest warrants and search warrants at 18 locations in central Indiana and Arizona on Thursday, officials said in a news release. Sixteen individuals were arrested and booked into federal custody. Three are fugitives — Jaraughn Bertram, 20, Jordan Sumner, 22, and Joaquin Carranza, 18.

“The reason that we do this is because the drug traffickers who are out there, the people who are running around there, running around with firearms, you know, shooting people, killing people, endangering our community,” said U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers in a news conference on Friday. “They need to hear that this is what’s coming, that federal law enforcement, state law enforcement, local law enforcement, we work together to identify the worst offenders. We will spend the time that it takes to identify everyone involved, to find where you’re hiding your drugs, where you’re hiding your guns. We will get warrants. We will seize them. We will prosecute you, and we will seek to hold you accountable in court.”

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