The 28 people arrested in a cocaine-trafficking ring that smuggled drugs from Honduras to Northern Virginia are suspected of being in the United States illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Dani Bennett said in an email that the agency had lodged detainers against all 28 defendants in the case. Prosecutors say they had been trafficking cocaine around the region since 2006, using couriers who smuggled the drugs from Honduras by hiding the contraband in items like shoes and wooden frames. The D.C.-area traffickers would then distribute the cocaine to other dealers in the region.
Documents say ring members have wired more than $1 million to their Honduran suppliers, and one alleged trafficker bragged about having “enough coke to bathe in.”
— Emily Babay
