$16 Million worth of Drugs Busted in Southern California, 15 Arrested under Operation Hotline Bling
Riverside, CA: A large-scale drug cartel bust that took place in Southern California resulted in the arrest of fifteen individuals. The authorities confiscated illegal substances worth sixteen million dollars.
A Sinaloa drug trafficking network that was operating in the Inland Empire was the subject of the operation, which was a multi-agency investigation called “Hotline Bling.”
March 2023 marked the beginning of the investigation, which continued until April 2024. The United States Postal Inspection Service, Riverside Police Department, and the Riverside District Office of the Drug Enforcement Administration assisted in this operation.
The confiscated items include:
- 376 pounds of Methamphetamine.
- 37.4 pounds of Fentanyl.
- 600,000 pills of Fentanyl.
- 1.4 kilograms of Cocaine.
- Seven firearms
According to the Riverside police, the estimated street value of the busted narcotics is approximately sixteen million dollars.
The authorities revealed the names of the arrested individuals:
- Jose Javier Raya Cortez, 21
- Cesar Noe Raya Cortez, 23
- Julio Cesar Maganafranco Jr., 23
- David Crosthwaite, 24
- Carlos Ninoarias, 25
- Cristopher Antonio Arreola Alvarado, 25
- Alexis Raeleen Trevino, 26
- Andrew Aguilar, 27
- Michael Edwin Alva, 31
- Rolando Claros, 31
- Mario Daniel Miranda Duarte, 33
- Herman Leon, 34
An estimated ten million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl were avoided from being distributed inside the Inland Empire and throughout the United States as a result of the quantity of narcotics that was recovered during the successful operation, according to the officials.
