Police seized 300 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and cocaine
today worth an estimated $80 million at a Gilroy residence at the
corner of Roop Road and New Avenue.
Police seized 300 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and cocaine today worth an estimated $80 million at a Gilroy residence at the corner of Roop Road and New Avenue.
About 7 a.m. today, more than a dozen members of a drug task force team led by the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department arrested three Gilroy men with ties to a Mexican drug ring at an east Gilroy home. Police pulled one man out the window of 2250 Roop Road in rural Gilroy just a couple of miles from the outlet shopping center and arrested two others without incident after forcing entry through the front door. With the help of Gilroy police and the California Department of Justice Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, Sacramento Sheriff’s detectives booked Fabian Ayala, 28, Hector Salazar, 43, and Sergio Valencia, 34, at the Gilroy Police Department.
Police believe the men were converting methamphetamine brought up from Mexico from its raw form to the street drug and packaging it at the home.
“I’ve never seen a seizure like this in 30 years of law enforcement and working narcotics for almost 20 years at a single location search warrant operation,” said Sacramento Sheriff’s Lt. Fred Links. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he repeated.
About noon, detectives, scouring the residence for drugs, didn’t have to look far. Dozens of gallon-sized thermos containers filled to the brim with raw methamphetamine and bags stuffed with packaged kilos of cocaine spilled from kitchen cabinets, closets and bathroom cupboards. A dozen bins of several-inch-long crystals were in rows in an unfurnished bedroom littered with packages of Ziploc containers, rubber gloves, scales and cooling fans. A SWAT team guarded the home, which contained about 300 pounds of cocaine and crystal methamphetamine and raw methamphetamine waiting to be converted into the street drug.
Lt. Links valued the drugs at between $20 million and $30 million, wholesale, and $80 million, street value.
Men in hazardous material suits worked to dispose of toxic chemicals used to process the drugs. They laid the chemicals out on a tarp on the front lawn while a dozen or so unmarked police cars lined the road in front of the residence. Commonly known as “speed” or “meth,” methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Most of the methamphetamine used in the United States comes from foreign or domestic superlabs, but the drug can also easily be made in small, covert laboratories, with cheap over-the-counter ingredients, according to the NIDA.
The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department launched the investigation about a year ago after learning of a Mexican drug trafficking organization believed to be bringing sizable amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine into the Central California area, Links said. Through a series of investigation and surveillance operations, his team believes they were able to identify most of the key players who were organizing lines of distribution into the Central Valley, Links said.
“The pattern of this type of activity extends east, with the Central Valley being the meth capital of the world,” he said. “It’s right here in our own backyard so we attack the organization as best we can.”
The three men were booked into the Santa Clara County Mail Jail for narcotic related crimes. Valencia and Ayala also have immigration detainers issued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said Gilroy Police Sgt. Chad Gallacinao.
The task forced served federal and state search warrants at the Gilroy residence, and at locations in Modesto and Sacramento.
Like Links, many of the detectives who worked quickly to package the evidence and process the scene today said they were amazed with the sheer size of the Gilroy operation.
“I have never seen anything like this,” Sacramento Sheriff’s Detective Sal Robles said, echoing what many of his colleagues continued to repeat as they discovered yet another stash.
Police found drugs and paraphernalia in nearly every room of the house, from the garage to the bathrooms. Drugs spilled from closets and drawers and a Sacramento Sheriff’s Detective knelt on the floor of a bathroom, entering at least a dozen clear plastic bags of methamphetamine into evidence.
“Usually we don’t see them much bigger than the size of a fingernail,” he said, holding up a chunk of crystal meth the size of his hand.
In addition to the drugs, police believe the men may have been using their property for cock fighting and dog fighting. Several pens of roosters dotted the expansive backyard. Inside the house, empty cases of Budweiser light beer littered several rooms and a rather elaborate shrine to the Virgin Mary complete with candles and flowers adorned the mantle.
The culmination of the operation marks a particularly sweet victory for the task force, Links said.
“The surveillance is extensive, the hours are long,” he said. “But for every one of these officers and agents, this is what’s in their blood. It’s the ultimate prize. These guys are just giddy and I’m so proud of them. It really doesn’t get any better than this right here.”
View Larger Map
Police made a drug bust at 2250 Roop Ave. at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
