Commercial Bus Company Employees Indicted in Texas for Drug Trafficking

Eighteen persons, including alleged drug traffickers and the owners/operators of commercial bus companies operating from Mexico into the Rio Grande Valley to numerous U.S. cities and their drivers, have been indicted for transporting large loads of marijuana and cocaine in specially modified commercial buses and money laundering.

According to court documents, the suspects used specially modified commercial buses to smuggle contraband into the United States from Monterrey, Mexico. The buses were also used in the transportation of contraband from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston and Dallas, Texas; Allentown, Pa.; Joliet, Ill. and elsewhere.

The indictment alleges that the owners or managers of the bus companies, which had offices and terminals in Monterrey, Mexico and Rio Grande City, Roma, San Antonio and Houston, Texas, used their various companies as a front for their drug transport services, and hired drivers and loaders to transport the illegal cargo in hidden compartments built into the bus or in areas not accessible to the public.

In exchange for the services, the indictment alleges the owners/managers of the bus companies received thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the proceeds of the drug loads from which they drew their share and paid the drivers and loaders. The amount of the payment often depended upon the kind of drug, the size of the load and its ultimate destination. For example, if the suspects would charge from $500 per kilogram of cocaine bound for the U.S. side of the border to $7,000 per kilogram of cocaine bound for New York.

This drug transport service has been in operation since at least November 2001 and is responsible for transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, thousands of pounds of marijuana from the border to points north and millions of dollars in drug proceeds south to Mexico. Undercover operations conducted as part of the investigation have resulted in the seizure of more than 570 kilograms of cocaine, 3,000 plus pounds of marijuana and the thousands of dollars in cash.

The indictment identifies Abel Trevino Jr., 43, of Houston; Oscar Jaime Garcia Prado, 42, a resident alien residing in Brookshire, Texas; Miguel Montemayor, 39, a resident alien residing in Roma, Texas; Victor Hinojosa, 41, a resident alien residing in Houston; and Eduardo Trevino, 40, of Linares, Mexico, as the owners/managers of the various commercial bus companies; Leticia Enedina Fournier, 58; Guadalupe Karr Cortez, 47, an illegal alien, Jesse Trevino, 48, a resident alien, and Alejandro Carmargo-Guerra, 59, a resident alien, all of Houston; Victor Rocha, 39, a resident alien residing in Dickinson, Texas, and Enrique Alvaro Saldana, 53, a resident alien residing in Roma, Texas, are alleged co-conspirators hired by the owner/managers as bus drivers and loaders who were paid by the owners/managers to transport and deliver the drug loads hidden aboard the commercial buses as directed by the owners/managers; Guadalupe Castaneda, 46, of Roma, Texas; Eduardo Cirilo, 42, of Pharr, Texas; Eduardo Salinas, 29, of Mission, Texas; Jose Armando Muniz, 33, of Weslaco, Texas; Rafael Armando Ramirez, 32, an illegal alien residing in the Houston area; Luis Larios, 36, and Robert Salazar Rivera, 48, both of Monterrey, Mexico, are accused of utilizing and paying for the services of the bus companies to transport loads of cocaine and marijuana to various locations in the United States.