PORTLAND, Oregon — Law enforcement arrested four people from Washington state who are accused of transporting nearly 370 gallons of liquid heroin in Oregon. The arrests are part of a multi-agency drug trafficking investigation that's ongoing, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon.
On Jan. 24, law enforcement learned that several people working for a Mexico-based transnational criminal organization were transporting illegal narcotics into the state, according to court documents. Investigators saw a U-Haul truck and a red pickup truck heading west together on Interstate 84 near Bonneville during the late evening of Jan. 24, into the early morning of Jan. 25. The vehicles stopped at a commercial parking lot in Beaverton and a motel in Tigard.
Investigators served federal search warrants in the motel room and the two vehicles. They found eight 55-gallon barrels containing a liquid narcotic in the U-Haul truck, which weighed about 1.4 metric tons, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon said in a news release on Feb. 1. Results from lab tests confirmed the barrels contained liquid heroin.
Law enforcement arrested 44-year-old Marco Antonio Magallon, 26-year-old Luis Deleon Woodward, 25-year-old Jorge Luis Amador, and 32-year-old Santos Alisael Aguilar Maya. They are facing federal charges charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute heroin, and possession with intent to distribute heroin.
Homeland Security Investigations, the Washington County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) and the Westside Interagency Narcotics Team (WIN) are investigating. WIN is a drug trafficking task force that includes members of the WCSO, Beaverton and Hillsboro police departments, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI.