Excerpted from The Sacramento Union
By TG Swauger
July 18, 1991

Sweeping drug raids Wednesday morning netted narcotics agents more than 6 ½ pounds of methamphetamines 63 grams of tar heroin and $75,000 in cash.

The raids may have served a major link of the methamphetamine trade funneling into the sate through Mexico, Sacramento County Sheriff Glen Craig said.

More than 200 agents from 13 law enforcement agencies combined forces for the 7 am sweep of homes, apartments and business. Twenty six people were arrested.

The operation took 28 minutes to complete.

AN additional 13 Mexican nationals were held for the US Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Sheriff Craig described the crackdown on the Mexican connection as disruptive to future drug traffic. He said all the suspects were connected through several sources.

"(This was) a major supplier of the south portion of the county. We think it will have a significant impact on the traffic of methamphetamines and tar heroin into the county," said Sheriff Craig at an afternoon press conference.

"I feel comfortable that our people have made a significant dent in this operation," he said.

Street value of the methamphetamines was placed at $250,000. The tar heroin was listed with a $25,000 street value. A small amount of liquid steroid also was uncovered but no cash amount was listed.

A table was littered with plastic sacks stuffed with cash or powered narcotics. Additionally eight of the 10 weapons confiscated in the raids were displayed, including both revolvers and semi-automatic handguns. One small handgun was still hidden in a hollowed out VCR tape casing.

Nine vehicles were confiscated during the raids that stretched from North Sacramento into the south region of the county. The majority of the arrests were made in south Sacramento, officials said.

Investigators said the drugs enter California – and then eventually the rest of the country – through manufacturing plants just across the border.

No laboratories were uncovered during the Sacramento operation.

The highly coordinated operation used information gained from a drug bust in December of another major drug trafficker, said Sheriff's Department Capt. Donald Savage.

Capt. Savage declined to release the name of the man arrested earlier, but said his information help the agencies piece together enough information to launch Wednesday's action.