San Diego Man Arrested In Big Seattle Drug Bust

SEATTLE, WA - A San Diego man is facing drug charges for allegedly agreeing to pick up 18 kilograms of cocaine in Seattle for distribution in Canada. But unknown to Adrian Perez, 41, he was picking up the cocaine from an undercover Department of Homeland Security officer.

After Perez was arrested for cocaine trafficking last week, Seattle police served a search warrant on Perez' car and rental home in the Leschi neighborhood. They found over 300 pounds of methamphetamine there.

The operation began in February when undercover federal police met with drug traffickers in San Diego. The officers brought 100 kilograms of cocaine, offering to traffic the drugs from California to Canada. After buying 18 kilograms, the traffickers asked the undercover police to meet a contact in Seattle to hand off the drugs.

On March 13, Perez allegedly arranged to meet an undercover officer in the parking garage of the Vox apartment building near the intersection of 15th Avenue and Pine Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. He was arrested after accepting the drugs from the undercover officer, according to court documents.

The next day, Seattle police searched Perez' rental. A pound of meth is worth about $10,000 on the street, according to some estimates, making Seattle's bust worth $3.1 million. Eighteen kilos of cocaine is worth about $300,000, according to estimates of cocaine prices.

Seattle police Chief Carmen Best praised the seizures, highlighting that cocaine and methamphetamine can kill.
"Getting these dangerous drugs off the street is a testament to what is possible when we work together with our federal partners," she said in a statement.

Perez is being held in federal custody. His next court date is March 27 at the federal courthouse in Seattle.

Photo via Getty Images