Seized during the arrests made over the weekend of August 20, were more than four million dollars worth of highly deceptive counterfeit U.S. currency - "supernotes," 36,000 ecstasy pills and almost one-half kilo of crystal meth.
Officials also charged members of the busted crime organization with arms trafficking and conspiring to import more than a million dollar's worth of silenced pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, and other weapons, including rocket launchers.
Federal agents also shut down an organization engaged in smuggling hundreds of millions of counterfeit cigarettes into the U.S.
The arrests and indictments yielded by Smoking Dragon and Royal Charm resulted from the coordinated work of the FBI and the Secret Service, with substantial assistance from numerous other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
Following the arrests, federal indictments were unsealed in Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey, naming 87 individuals in the international smuggling and counterfeiting operation on charges including: violations of Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes; dealing in counterfeit U.S. currency; narcotics trafficking; money laundering; conspiracy to defraud the United States; and illegal weapons trafficking.
In an effort to orchestrate the arrest of many of the subjects in the Newark investigation, the FBI prepared and sent invitations to a ruse “wedding” for one of the FBI undercover agents. Many of the subjects were arrested on Sunday, believing they were going to the wedding celebration.
“Those who traffic in illegal weapons and counterfeit and contraband cigarettes pose a danger to our communities and our nation,” said ATF Deputy Director Edgar Domenech in a press release. “By partnering in investigations such as this one, we can bring together our investigative expertise and unique capabilities to attack this international criminal threat and safeguard the American people.”
“This was a one-stop-shopping criminal organization that had the will and the means to smuggle virtually every form of contraband imaginable. For those reasons alone, the organization posed a serious homeland security threat that we are happy to close down today. This case demonstrates what can be achieved when law enforcement works together to combat such threats,” said John P. Clark, Deputy Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Department of Homeland Security.
More details on Smoking Dragon and Royal Charm can be found on the USDOJ Website.
