Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Announces Seizure of $10 Million in Cocaine

LOS ANGELES – Attorney General Kamala D. Harris announced that as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, the L.A. IMPACT task force, led by the California Department of Justice, today seized 83 kilograms of cocaine, worth an estimated street value of $10 million, from a bus traveling across the U.S. border from Mexico. The cocaine was sent through the San Ysidro Port of Entry from Tijuana, Baja California.

Agents also arrested Victor Fainz Miranda, 33, Jaime Jimenez, 50, and Humberto Vazquez, 48, at 545 North Avalon Boulevard, Wilmington, CA.  The suspects are currently in custody. 

“Transnational criminal organizations terrorize our communities, traffic massive amounts of illegal drugs and guns into our neighborhoods, and undermine  public safety,” said Attorney General Harris.  “This operation shut down a multi-million dollar criminal enterprise  to traffic illegal narcotics across the border.  I want to thank our California Department of Justice Special Agents with L.A. IMPACT and our state, local, and federal partners for their tireless efforts to dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”

L.A. IMPACT is comprised of numerous local, state, and federal agencies and led by the California Department of Justice. 

Attorney General Harris has called the trafficking of drugs by transnational criminal organizations, particularly methamphetamine, a growing threat to the state and a top priority for law enforcement in her 2014 report, Gangs Beyond Borders: California and the Fight Against Transnational Organized Crime, which was the first comprehensive report analyzing the state of transnational criminal organizations in California.  The report also outlined recommendations to address the flow of illegal drugs into the United States, much of it through the San Diego Port of Entry, which include increased funding for state anti-narcotics trafficking task forces and additional coordination between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in combatting transnational criminal organizations.

Following the release of the report, Attorney General Harris led a delegation of state attorneys general to Mexico to strengthen working relationships between the governments of both countries and enhance efforts to combat transnational crime. The delegation met with Mexican state attorneys general and federal officials to discuss the issues of drug, human and firearms trafficking, money laundering and high-tech crime. 

Photos from today's bust are available online at http://oag.ca.gov/news/photo-gallery/ca-doj-led-la-impact-task-force-seizes-83-kilograms-cocaine-major-bust.