A years-long, undercover investigation dismantled a Butte drug trafficking organization with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. The investigation led to the conviction of 18 Montana residents.
“These cases represent one of the largest federal drug trafficking probes in southwest Montana’s history," U.S. Attorney for Montana Jesse Laslovich said at a news conference on Thursday.
Laslovich said the investigation, which began in 2019 after a tip to local police about a suspicious package, resulted in the convictions of 22 individuals from Montana, California and Mexico.
“It was a multi-agency undercover investigation that found massive amounts of methamphetamine, counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl, and heroin being brought to Butte for redistribution throughout southwest Montana," he said.
Laslovich said the drug trafficking organization brought more than 2,000 pounds of meth and more than 722,000 pills laced with fentanyl into Montana, and laundered almost $3 million. Drugs would have been brought into Butte by vehicle and through the mail, and then distributed throughout the state.
According to the Montana Department of Justice, more fentanyl has been seized by law enforcement this year in the state than in the last three years combined.
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