INDIANAPOLIS — Two central Indiana men and another person were arrested after 220 pounds of cocaine and a private plane were seized in Chicago. The arrests were part of an investigation last week that disrupted a suspected Mexico-to-Chicago drug pipeline.
Court documents allege the shipment of cocaine was flown from Houston into an airport in Gary, Indiana, on Wednesday, Nov. 3. The flight originated southwest of Mexico City in Toluca, Mexico.
Sebastian Vazquez-Gamez, 30, of Mexico, was on the flight. When it landed, he loaded suitcases full of cocaine into a Lincoln Navigator.
Vazquez-Gamez and others from the plane drove the car to a hotel in downtown Chicago, where court documents say Vazquez-Gamez loaded some of the suitcases into another vehicle. Investigators allege this vehicle was driven by Rodrigo Jimenez-Perez, 25, of Columbus, Indiana.
Jimenez-Perez was pulled over a few blocks away from the hotel by federal agents who seized the suitcases, which contained a total of 176 pounds of cocaine, then arrested Jimenez-Perez.
Agents later arrested Vazquez-Gamez in his hotel room, where they seized another 44 pounds of cocaine, according to the court documents.
Sergio Blas, 39, of Indianapolis, was arrested the next day in the Indianapolis area. The complaint against Blas accuses him of directing Jimenez-Perez on where to meet Vazquez-Gamez to pick up the cocaine.
A warrant was obtained Monday to seize the plane, a Bombardier Challenger 600 business jet.
Blas and Jimenez-Perez both appeared in court on Monday. Vazquez-Gamez appeared in court Tuesday.
