Authorities seize 88 pounds of heroin in Manchester bust
Federal authorities intercepted more than 88 pounds of heroin destined for Vermont and arrested a Guatemalan man who just arrived in the county, court records show.
The heroin has a street value of more than $5 million and would create more than one million individual doses, according to Special Agent Christopher Pandolfi of the Department of Homeland Security.
Diego Walther Anibal Mejia Paredes, 33, is charged with knowingly possessing the heroin in Vermont with intent to distribute it, records show. The charge carries a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kunal Pasricha said in court papers.
“This is a huge seizure of heroin and it was made possible by the remarkable coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement,” U.S. Attorney Eric Miller told the Burlington Free Press on Saturday.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Conroy in Burlington ruled in a detention order there are no known conditions that can be set to ensure Paredes will appear in federal court in Vermont, nor are there sufficient conditions to protect the public from Paredes, court records show.
Federal Public Defender Steven Barth did not contest the findings, but said he might later seek his client’s release.
Federal officials arrested Paredes after he accepted the drug packages from a courier outside the Cilantro restaurant on Main Street in Manchester on Oct. 8.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials in Miami, Fla inspected a shipment entering the United States from Guatemala on Oct. 6, Pandolfi said in a court affidavit. Further inspection revealed the packages, which weighed about 132 pounds, had two boxes wrapped in plastic cellophane-type material.
Investigators said each of the smaller packages contained other smaller packages with white powdery substances that field tested for heroin, Pandolfi said. He said the drugs were shipped on to Burlington. The drugs were split into 1.2 kilogram and .5 kilogram packages, he said.
The intended recipient was “Jose Medina,” but authorities said an extensive check failed to show the man was associated with the address or even existed in the area, the affidavit said. When an undercover agent, posing as the shipping business courier, delivered the drugs outside the Mexican restaurant, Paredes was there and said he was the recipient’s cousin, Pandolfi said.
Paredes placed the packages, which had most of the drugs removed before the delivery, into his silver Audi A6 vehicle and started to drive off, officials said. He engaged in conduct designed to recognize or avoid surveillance, Pandolfi wrote.
“Paredes appeared to be hyper-vigilant of his surroundings and appeared to be checking for surveillance. Among other things, Paredes was constantly checking his rear-view mirror, and at one point, he took 3 right turns, almost returning to his starting location before continuing his trip,” the investigator wrote.
Paredes was later stopped by law enforcement. Investigators determined he had a B2 visitor visa and had arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York from Guatemala on Oct. 5 – the same day the drug packages were shipped from there to America, records show.
Paredes told investigators he had no cousin named Jose Medina, but said he had no idea what was in the packages, Pandolfi said. He said he was instructed to send a text when he received the packages on one of his two cellphones to “Jose” in Guatemala, Pandolfi said. The defendant said “Jose” indicated he would send somebody to pick up the packages.
Paredes initially appeared before Conroy in federal court for a brief hearing Oct. 9, but it was postponed until last Thursday to give the government more time to investigate. That subsequent hearing was eliminated when the defense agreed not to contest his detention.
He is jailed at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in St. Albans.
Contact Mike Donoghue at 660-1845 or mdonoghue@freepressmedia.com Follow Mike on Twitter at www.twitter.com/FreepsMikeD.