Flushing Resident Arrested For Money Laundering In Huge Drug Bust

FLUSHING, QUEENS — Law enforcement arrested a Flushing resident Thursday on charges of money laundering as part of a sprawling drug trafficking ring based in Mexico.

Federal authorities arrested Jiaze Xia, 23, as part of Operation Colombian Cargo, an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration into a multimillion-dollar drug trafficking network that spans Mexico, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Operation Colombian Cargo has led to the seizure of $4.7 million in drug money, 400 kilograms of cocaine, 225 kilograms of meth, 53 kilograms of fentanyl and 12 kilograms of heroin during a 10-month time frame, prosecutors said.

Smugglers brought the drugs from Mexico into the United States in hidden compartments in cars or in boxes that supposedly contained speakers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.

Prosecutors called Xia a "key player" in the organization’s money laundering scheme, which used couriers to deliver pesos to the drug ring's leaders in Mexico.

Xia will be arraigned in Los Angeles.