Three people were arrested by federal agents following a wide-ranging Chicago drug investigation that resulted in the seizures of a private plane and 100 kilograms of cocaine as well as the disruption of a suspected drug pipeline, authorities said.
Two suspects, Sebastian Vazquez-Gamez, 30, of Toluca de Lerdo, Mexico, and Rodrigo Alexis Jimenez-Perez, 25, of Columbus, Indiana, were arrested Wednesday in downtown Chicago, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
A third individual, Sergio Ivan Blas, 39, of Indianapolis, was arrested Thursday in Indiana.
According to prosecutors, Vazquez-Gamez arrived on a plane at Gary/Chicago International Airport from Houston and loaded suitcases full of cocaine into a Lincoln Navigator SUV. Vazquez-Gamez and others who traveled on the plane were then were driven to a hotel in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, charges allege.
Outside the hotel, Vazquez-Gamez loaded some of the suitcases into a Toyota Highlander that was being driven by Jimenez-Perez, according to law enforcement.
Federal agents pulled the vehicle over a few blocks away and seized the suitcases, which contained 80 kilograms of cocaine, and arrested Jimenez-Perez, according to the news release from federal prosecutors
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Vazquez-Gamez was later arrested in his hotel room, where authorities seized an additional 20 kilograms of cocaine, charges allege.
The seizures are part of an investigation that disrupted a suspected Mexico-to-Chicago drug pipeline, according to prosecutors.
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Blas, the third suspect, is accused of directing Jimenez-Perez where to meet Vazquez-Gamez to pick up the cocaine, authorities stated.
