20 arrested in major drug trafficking bust ‘Operation El Primo’: Miami Police

A major drug trafficking organization that was operating in parts of Miami has been dismantled with the arrest of 20 suspects during “Operation El Primo,” Miami Police officials said.

Police said the FBI assisted them with a coordinated series of raids early Tuesday that resulted in the arrests during the second wave of the operation.

The suspects were described as “high priority defendants” who were named in recent federal indictments, including some who were connected to a murder-for-hire plot that was stopped before it was carried out.

Miami Police

Police said the “sophisticated” cocaine trafficking operation operated primarily in Miami’s Flagami neighborhood but also in Little Havana and Coral Way.

More than 22 kilograms of cocaine was seized during the operation, along with over $120,000 in cash, firearms, and ammunition, police said.

“This takedown sends a clear and unmistakable message: drug trafficking and the violence that follows it will not be tolerated in Miami,” Police Chief Manuel Morales said in a statement Tuesday. “I am extremely proud of our narcotics detectives from the Special Investigations Section and grateful for the hundreds of hours of tireless, often undercover work that led to today’s safe and successful operation. Their dedication, combined with outstanding collaboration with our partners at the FBI, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, and State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle and her team at the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, made these results possible.”