Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2000 Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer (WA) Copyright: 2000 Seattle Post-Intelligencer Contact: P.O. Box 1909, Seattle, WA 98111-1909 Website: http://www.seattle-pi.com/ Author: Paul Shukovsky 20 ARE ARRESTED IN A DRUG CRACKDOWN IN SEATTLE AREA Federal agents and local police arrested 20 people in the Seattle area yesterday morning on charges of selling and conspiring to sell heroin, methamphetamine and crack cocaine. The operation, dubbed "Conquistador" by the Drug Enforcement Administration, has so far led to indictments against 36 people, about 16 of whom are still at large. About 20 people associated with the alleged drug traffickers, but not charged in the case, are being held by the Immigration and Naturalization Service as illegal aliens. The investigation, which used wiretaps and undercover informants, revealed the presence of "a major Seattle-area heroin trafficking organization, known as the Nava-Banuelos Organization," according to a complaint filed by Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Tom Varvitsiotis. Many of those appearing in court yesterday are members of the Nava- anuelos family, which hails from Mexico's Michoacan region, an area notorious for drug trafficking. The alleged conspirators are believed to have smuggled the black tar heroin across the border in vehicles with hidden compartments, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Whalley. Although it is unclear how much heroin was moved by the Nava-Banuelos organization, Whalley said, "We think it was multikilogram quantities." But a complaint filed by Varvitsiotis indicates that the scope of the operation might be smaller. The "family-based heroin trafficking organization . . . distributes multi-ounce quantities of heroin to a number of local dealers," according to the complaint. During pre-dawn raids yesterday, federal agents and local police fanned out across the region and executed about 40 search warrants. The investigation began in January 1999, when DEA agents were deployed in Lewis County "to target a loosely-knit local organization of black tar heroin traffickers." The source of heroin turned out to be the Seattle-area trafficking organization, according to Varvitsiotis. Investigators made controlled buys of heroin using several confidential sources and a DEA undercover agent. Using wiretaps, agents intercepted hundreds of drug-related phone calls in which the participants used coded language in Spanish that at times was so obscure that they did not even understand each other, said Whalley. Members of the organization spoke to middlemen who ordered quantities of drugs with names such as "five window panes" or "four dark ladies," he said. As the scope of the operation grew, Seattle Police pitched in with officers to conduct surveillance details. At 4 a.m. yesterday, police and agents began executing the first of the warrants. Most of them were in greater Seattle, said Whalley, but search warrants also were executed in Portland and Eastern Washington. U.S. Attorney Kate Pflaumer said the goal of such investigations "is to reduce the number of deaths caused by heroin overdoses in western Washington." - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens