ALBUQUERQUE: Following an eight-month investigation the U.S. Attorney’s Office arrested ten people Thursday on suspicion of running a heroin trafficking ring in Sunland, N.M., a mid-sized city on the border with Mexico, according to a spokeswoman for the office.
Elizabeth Martinez said the ring was led by 67-year-old Raymundo Muñoz of Sunland Park, N.M., who was allegedly obtaining heroin from Juan Francisco Rivera, 60, of El Paso, Tex. According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Rivera would use couriers to regularly smuggle between two and nine ounces of heroin across the Mexican border into El Paso and Sunland Park.
“The indictment alleges that Muñoz took the heroin to his Sunland Park residence where he distributed the drugs to others,” Martinez said. “Members of the conspiracy allegedly used telephones to negotiate their heroin deals, arrange for heroin deliveries, and pay for the heroin.”
Agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration seized approximately a pound of heroin, more than $53,000 in cash and firearms, Martinez said.
