At least 20 people arrested linked to Miami cocaine trafficking ring, police say
Police on Tuesday afternoon announced that it toppled a large-scale cocaine trafficking organization, arresting more than a dozen people in Miami-Dade.
At around 5 a.m., Miami officers, working alongside the FBI, arrested about 20 people in “Operation El Primo,” which targeted the “sophisticated” drug ring. Investigators seized more than 22 kilograms of cocaine, more than $120,000 in cash and firearms in Flagami, Little Havana and Coral Way.
The people arrested were federally indicted. Some of them, according to police, were connected to a murder-for-hire plot that was foiled by officers.
“Through close, sustained collaboration, investigators disrupted a network that moved multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine, trafficked in cash and firearms, and posed a real threat to public safety,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.
In a statement provided on Tuesday, Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales touted the bust, highlighting his department’s collaboration with FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office and Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
“This takedown sends a clear and unmistakable message: drug trafficking and the violence that follows it will not be tolerated in Miami,” Morales said. “Together, we will continue to dismantle criminal organizations, remove dangerous offenders from our streets and protect the people of Miami.”
Among the people indicted are Bienvenido Leo Rodriguez, 73, of Miami; Roberto Rodriguez, 52, of Miami; Alberto Leandro Curiel, 72, of Miami; Pedro Gonzalez Alvarez, 48, of Miami; Claudio Alberto Barrios, 55, of Miami Beach; Raimundo Antonio Roca-Naranjo, 72, of Miami Lakes; Roberto Jimenez, 53, of Miami; Luis Alejandro Salcedo Rey, 54, of Miami; Rolando Rodriguez Lugo, 57 of Miami; Diego Diaz De La Cruz, 47f Miami; Lucia Cuadrado, 65, of Hialeah; Jorge Mahique Pareta, 64, of Hialeah; Miguel Marquez Romero, 29, of Naples; Heinrich Castillo Diaz, 47, of Miami; Jose Arnaldo Bermudez, Jr., 42, of Miami; Paulo Sabon Montero, 54, of Naples; Valerio Alvarez Abreu, 73, of Hialeah; Santos Saavedra, 81, of Miami; Eustaquio Luis Cardoso Veliz, 63, of Miami; Glenis Perez Martinez, 54, of Miami; Yovanis Fernandez, 51, of Hialeah; Manuel Nuez, 55, of Miami; Livan Padron Duque, 49, of Miami; and Jorge Falla, 50, of Miami.
This story was originally published December 16, 2025 at 2:18 PM.
