Horry County ‘flooded’ with drugs from Mexican cartel, US attorney’s office says
A leader of a Mexican drug trafficking organization pleaded guilty on Tuesday to supplying cocaine, fentanyl and heroin in Horry County.
Rafael Contreras Ramos, 40, and his organization operated mainly in Tuscon, Arizona, but had ties in Nevada, North Carolina and Horry County according to a news release from the U.S. District Attorney’s Office in South Carolina.
Evidence presented during Ramos’ hearing showed that the organization is responsible for bringing into South Carolina more than 40 kilograms of cocaine, 14 kilograms of fentanyl and one kilogram of heroin, according to the release. FBI agents also found that Ramos and other members of his organization had obtained the narcotics from a Mexican cartel and had been bringing them into Horry County from at least 2016 until 2022 when the operation was disrupted.
They are responsible for collecting more than $5 million through drug sales during this time, according to the release.
Ramos pleaded guilty to conspiring to distribute controlled substances in South Carolina, and he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years.
“The defendant played a direct role in flooding Horry County with illegal drugs, and the consequences were that of violence on our streets, addiction in our neighborhoods, and real harm to people,” FBI Columbia Special Agent in Charge Kevin Moore said in the release. “The FBI and our law enforcement partners are sending a strong message: we’re not only investigating individual dealers. We’re pursuing entire networks from local distribution all the way to the source, no matter their location.”
