Federal authorities say an Arlington man ran a large-scale marijuana-trafficking operation that brought hundreds of pounds of the drug into Northern Virginia over the past two years. Since 2009, 26-year-old Eray Basaran and others purchased large amounts of marijuana from California and Florida for distribution in Virginia, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Alexandria.
The complaint doesn’t specify how much marijuana Basaran is believed to have trafficked, but he was charged with conspiracy to distribute 100 or more kilograms of marijuana. That means authorities think he trafficked at least 100 kilograms — about 220 pounds — of the drug.
No lawyer was listed for Basaran in court records, and the phone number listed for his home was disconnected.
The complaint says Basaran and others used rental cars to transport money from Northern Virginia to Florida, and returned to Virginia with large quantities of marijuana. They used FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service to exchange money and marijuana with their California-based suppliers, according to the complaint.
No one else has been charged in the case. Informants and witnesses mentioned in the complaint are not named. The document says some have already been charged with drug offenses and are cooperating with authorities; others have not been indicted.
The complaint says law enforcement officials have seized marijuana packages and proceeds from the operation several times.
In the first instance, in September 2009, law enforcement stopped Basaran’s rental vehicle in South Carolina. He and a passenger “provided conflicting details of their reasons for travel” and authorities seized $101,725 in cash, according to the complaint.
Authorities later intercepted marijuana packages sent to Basaran’s home and the addresses of others affiliated with the trafficking ring, the complaint says.
And in June 2010, a Springfield man and a Lompoc, Calif., man were arrested after investigators raided a Lompoc marijuana-cultivation facility and the two admitted their ties to Basaran’s operation. The complaint says officials seized irrigation systems, lights and 98 marijuana plants during the raid.
The complaint says bank records show that Basaran and others involved in the ring made transactions involving tens of thousands of dollars — including depositing a total of $230,000 into a Bank of America account between Aug. 1 and Aug. 17 — even though Virginia Employment Commission records show Basaran last earned legitimate wages in 2009.
