Feds Bust Local Man on Narcotics Charges

A Plainfield man was among 20 arrested Tuesday on federal drug trafficking charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Chicago.

Evaristo Martinez-Zamaniego, 28, of Plainfield, who also lists an address in Cicero, was among the defendants arrested in the Chicago area and Laredo, Texas, for their roles in distributing cocaine and using a telephone to facillitate narcotics trafficking, the U.S. Attorney's office release said.

A joint investigation conducted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI in 2010 led to the charges. During the course of the probe, officers seized more than $12.4 million in cash and 250 kilograms of cocaine, the release said.

Police also recovered $480,000 cash and about 250 kilograms of heroin when making arrests Tuesday in Bolingbrook and Bellwood. The Bolingbrook suspect is Julio Morales-Soto, 26.

Five of the defendants have ties to the Zetas Mexican drug cartel, which is believed to have transported millions of dollars in drug proceeds between Chicago and Mexico, the release said. At least one of the suspects is a resident of Mexico, and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the case.

The indictments were returned by a federal grand jury on Nov. 2 and unsealed following the Tuesday arrests. All of the arrests were made in the Chicago area with the exception of one, which took place in Laredo, Texas. Five defendants remain at large.