State police arrest 5, find 14 kilos of cocaine in Pittsburgh-area bust
An unnamed informant tipped state police about a cocaine operation in the Pittsburgh area that resulted in the arrests of five people at a parking garage in the area, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
Authorities found 14 kilogram-sized bricks of suspected cocaine in hidden compartments in the rear wheel wells of a GMC Acadia SUV they searched, according to FBI Agent Darcos Cruz, who is assigned to the state police task force.
The exact location of the Wednesday bust wasn’t detailed in court records.
Law enforcement officials tracked the SUV and a Honda Accord from a storage unit in the area to three other locations before they closed in on the suspects in the parking garage, Cruz wrote.
Arrested were: Sergio G. Alvarado Feliz and Aracelis Martinez Nunez, who live in Phoenix; and Juan J. Quintero Feliz, Amado A. Zazueta Garcia and Luis A. Alvardo Llanes, who were visiting from Mexico on tourist visas, according to the complaint. Each are charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.
The men are in custody awaiting detention hearings and further proceedings in U.S. Western District Court, officials said.
Tom Davidson is a TribLive news editor. He has been a journalist in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. He can be reached at tdavidson@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.