SOUTH SALT LAKE, Utah — A large drug trafficking organization brought down by police resulted in dozens of arrests and the seizure of thousands of doallars in heroin, officials said Tuesday.
Detectives from Unified Police Department in partnership with the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force served search warrants for 15 locations throughout Salt Lake and Utah Counties. The warrants were a result of an investigation conducted over the past several weeks.
Police say the investigation was initiated in response to the high volume of heroin being distributed by drug runners across the Salt Lake Valley, which then flowed into Utah and Davis Counties.
During the investigation police identified multiple locations that were involved in the drug trafficking operation, police say.
From May 8-12 detectives served 15 warrants with the assistance of several police and law enforcement agencies in Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Taylorsville, Holladay and Lehi.
Police made 11 drug trafficking arrests and 40 buyers/consumers were arrested or cited.
The search warrants yielded six pounds of heroin with a street value of $120,000, the seizure of 11 vehicles, $82,000 in cash and 12 firearms were recovered.
The following were arrested and booked on drug trafficking charges:
Victor Peres-Cardenas, age 20
Jose Arciniega-Nuno, age 31
Jose Cordero-Olvera, age 29
Enrique Ojeda, age 24
Luis Mercedes-Padilla, age 32
Alejandro Perez-Cardenas, age 25
Carlos Santiago-Castaneda, age 28
Luis Perez-Hermandez, age 56
Humberto Perez-Oliver, age 25
Manuel Robles-Cazares, age 23
