ICE charges nearly 20 suspects in alleged international heroin, cocaine scheme in Chicago

Federal agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged over a dozen individuals as part of an apparent international heroin and cocaine scheme in Chicago, Ill., the agency announced on Friday.

Over the course of the multiyear investigation, individuals with ICE's Homeland Security Investigations directorate seized "multiple kilograms of heroin and cocaine" across several neighborhoods of Chicago, among which was a massive 14-kilogram cocaine bust in the Belmont Cragin community.

Federal charges were brought against 17 individuals suspected in the plot, ICE said in a Friday press release. Suspects hailed from both Chicago and Mexico. 

"Yesterday's operation was not the first of its kind and it will not be the last,"Special Agent in Charge Angie Salazar  said in the release. "We will keep working tirelessly to disrupt the flow of drugs into the Chicago and surrounding areas."