Drug trafficking ring dismantled as Pinellas County deputies seize 132 pounds of cocaine worth $2.1M
Pinellas County drug bust
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri gives an update on what he says is Pinellas County’s largest drug trafficking bust in more than 40 years.
LARGO, Fla. - A multi-agency wiretap investigation ended with the arrest of several people and the dismantling of a massive drug trafficking organization based in Pinellas County, according to the sheriff's office.
Pinellas County drug ring dismantled
What we know:
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced the dismantling of a major drug ring headed by 35-year-old Daniel Pinales.
Investigators learned Pinales lived in Brandon but had deep ties to Pinellas County, where he distributed multiple kilograms of cocaine obtained from a source in El Paso, Texas.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted three separate investigations, using wiretaps to uncover the full scope of the network.
The investigation revealed that the organization used a monthly routine to transport the illicit cargo in truck tractors.
The suspects, according to Gualtieri, used two inoperable tractors as props to hide the cocaine while traveling from Texas to Florida.
Two inoperable truck tractors used by the drug trafficking organization as props to hide and transport kilograms of cocaine from El Paso, Texas, to Florida. Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Drug trafficking investigation
Dig deeper:
According to the sheriff, drivers would look for a hotel off S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel after arriving from I-75, where they met with Pinales to transfer duffle bags of cocaine.
Pinales stored the drugs at a Rocky Point apartment in Tampa that was rented by a woman strictly to serve as a stash house, according to PCSO.
Mugshot is courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives tracked the suspects driving in Columbia County on Friday before reportedly witnessing a transfer of three duffle bags into an SUV in Wesley Chapel around 8 p.m. Saturday.
According to investigators, Pinales met two suspects in a dark parking lot on Fletcher Avenue in Tampa, took the bags and ran from detectives in his rented SUV before being caught. Deputies said they found six kilograms of cocaine worth $2.1 million in his vehicle, bringing the total shipment seizure to about 132 pounds of cocaine.
Two inoperable truck tractors used by the drug trafficking organization as props to hide and transport kilograms of cocaine from El Paso, Texas, to Florida. Courtesy: Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
Gualtieri noted this is the single-largest drug seizure in Pinellas County in more than 40 years, with the ring moving an estimated 700 kilos of cocaine annually.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, who explained how deputies and state investigators dismantled the drug trafficking organization during a press conference, as well as official investigative updates from the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.