LATEST: At least one arrested had ties to Mexican cartel
An estimated 9 kilos (just under 20 pounds) of fentanyl worth more than $3.6 million on the street, more than 100 pounds of marijuana and $150,000 in cash were seized in Clark County on Monday night in what Montgomery County Sheriff Phil Plummer called a “good bust.”
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Four males have been arrested in the ongoing investigation Plummer and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said is targeted at the drug cartel in Mexico.
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The drugs and cash, packed in plastic bags and marked as evidence, were laid out on tables for media to see at a news conference called by Plummer and DeWine.
"What you're looking at here is enough fentanyl to kill every man, woman and child in the Miami Valley," DeWine said. "In fact, even beyond the Miami Valley. I think this is enough to kill 3 [million] or 4 million in the state of Ohio."
He lauded the Miami Valley Bulk Smuggling Task Force and is holding it up as a model that should be followed statewide.
“They are going right at the members of the cartel,” DeWine said of the task force.
Plummer said the task force -- made up of officers from Miami Twp., the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Butler Twp. Homeland Security, the Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office -- has taken more than $7 million from the cartel.
“This isn’t a good place to do business,” Plummer said in passing along the message he wants to send the cartel.
Plummer explained that the smugglers used very elaborate methods to bring the drugs across the border. He said the task force found the majority of Monday night’s seizure in the dashboard of a car. Some of the drugs were found in a house as well.
Of those who have been arrested, one is from New Carlisle and the others are from Mexico. Plummer also said one of the men arrested is an illegal and has ties to Mexico.
According to Montgomery County Jail online records, the place of arrest listed for three of the men is the Extended Stay America Dayton North, 6688 Miller Lane, Butler Twp. The place of arrest for one of the men is the Jefferson Twp. Police Department, 555 Infirmary Road.
None has been formally charged:
Omar Alejandro Cantu-Garcia (Nuevo Leon, Mexico), 28 -- detained on drug trafficking charges
David Guillermo Cantu-Garcia (Nuevo Leon, Mexico), 30 -- detained on drug trafficking charges
Pedro Medina (Nuevo Leon, Mexico), 40 -- jailed on federal detainer for drug possession. Arrested at 555 Infirmary Road
Aguilar Reyes-Espinosa (New Carlisle), 43 -- detained on drug trafficking charges
Information from DeWine’s office, released immediately after the news conference, said the men were arrested after a series of traffic stops and the search of a residence on Prentice Drive in New Carlisle.
DeWine said he has spoken with U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions about additional resources to fight drugs coming across the border from Mexico.
“I guarantee you, a lot of lives have been saved” because of this drug seizure, DeWine said.
He said the mixing of fentanyl with other drugs is what is continuing to drive the deaths.
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