LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A 15-month investigation has led to more than a dozen people facing drug and gun charges, with more indictments expected.
Officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Louisville Field Division, joined the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Homeland Security, and agents from other local law enforcement agencies in downtown Louisville Friday morning to announce the results of efforts to fight arms trafficking from Louisville to Mexico.
John Nokes, the special agent in charge of ATF, said the alleged pipeline is a growing problem.
"It's a problem," Nokes said during Friday's briefing. It's a problem, clearly."
The recent indictments were the culmination of an investigation that started in February 2024 after a man was shot inside a home on Lentz Avenue in the Jacobs neighborhood, near Taylor Blvd. After getting a warrant to search the home, LMPD detectives found cocaine, meth and marijuana. Investigators also seized 40 guns.
Five people were charged in that incident.
Months later, investigators learned several large shipments of firearms and money were sent from Louisville to Mexico, from June of 2024 to August of 2024. DEA Special Agent Jim Scott said it was an elaborate trafficking scheme that involved narcotics being sent back to Louisville.
"The tentacles of these terrorist organizations stretch across the U.S.," Scott said, adding: "Louisville is not immune to this."
As a result of the investigation, local and federal authorities seized 62 kilos of cocaine, $700,000 in cash, and nearly 60 firearms.
"There's a war going on in Mexico, and these [weapons] are outfitting those troops," Nokes said as he referred to numerous seized guns displayed on a table at the briefing.
Officials said the money was being laundered in Louisville at Mexican grocery stores, near the Jeffersontown area, and authorities also said many of the people involved are in the U.S. illegally.
"What this, overall, speaks to is the convergence of where illegal immigration has an effect on public safety and how we as partnerships are doing our best to ensure how immigration laws are enforced hand in hand with narcotics, firearms and other statutes."
Investigators said they have also identified four vehicles used in investigation: three of those vehicles were stopped by law enforcement, and drugs and money were found inside.
Authorities continue to search for four fugitives still on the run, who could be hiding out in Mexico.
"This is a direct line into Mexico," Scott said. "We see this, but not often. So I think that's significant."
Some of the guns authorities seized have been used in other crimes years ago, including one firearm allegedly used in a 2022 homicide, and another gun that was fired toward an LMPD officer in 2021.
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