10 Indicted In Philadelphia Cocaine Trafficking Case Tied To Mexican Cartel

Ten members of an alleged drug trafficking organization were indicted, and $17 million of cocaine was seized along with multiple firearms, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on Wednesday.

Blanche said the drug organization worked with a Mexican drug cartel to move more than 300 kilos of cocaine from Mexico to Philadelphia.

“Literal truckloads of cocaine have been seized as a result of this case and kept from flooding our city,” said U.S. Attorney David Metcalf in a statement.

“Know that the investigation is ongoing and there will [be] more arrests to come. We, the FBI, and the Philadelphia Police Department are zeroing in on the drug traffickers and cartels poisoning our neighborhoods and communities.”

As Tom Gantert reports for The Epoch Times, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, identified Gregory Jones of Philadelphia and Edward Basley of Wayne, Pennsylvania, as the leaders of the drug organization.

The indictment alleged that the drug organization was distributing between $5 million and $10 million worth of cocaine a month in the Philadelphia area. Five of the defendants were arrested on Tuesday, and the five other defendants were already in custody.

Jones and Basley were both charged with conspiracy to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and possession with intent to distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine.

Jones had been in prison, but his sentence was commuted by then-President Joe Biden in April 2022. Jones was sentenced to 18 years with a five-year term of supervised release in 2012. Biden commuted the sentence to end in April 2023.

Biden said at the time that his list of people who were pardoned and whose sentences were commuted were in prison for non-violent drug offenses. He said many of the people who had their sentences commuted would have had a lower sentence if they had been charged with the same offense in 2022 due to the First Step Act.

The First Step Act was signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018.

The investigation involved the FBI and the Philadelphia police department, and the case was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative.

“This investigation is another example of what is possible when local and federal law enforcement work together with a shared mission,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel in a press release.

“Drug trafficking organizations operating at this scale fuel violence, destabilize neighborhoods and cause tremendous harm in our communities. I am especially proud of the Philadelphia Police Department members assigned to this task force, whose work alongside our federal partners helped bring this investigation to this point.”

* * * Definitely not for cocaine…