Five Arrested After Being Accused of Using UPS to Traffic Cocaine

Image: LM Otero (AP)

You’d have to be pretty bold to work at one of the largest international shipping companies in the world and attempt to traffic drugs for personal profit. But some UPS employees are accused of doing just that, according to CBS News. Five were arrested — two of them UPS employees — after being caught in an alleged scheme to use UPS to traffic cocaine in Texas.

A release by U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani details how the scheme allegedly involved two UPS employees, identified as Orlando Candelario Almanza, and Fidencio Salinas Jr., along with three others: Javier Enrique Mendoza, 58-year-old Jose Felipe Lozano, and 45-year-old Enrique Bernardo Gamez. Authorities say the three men worked together with Almanza and Salinas to traffic cocaine on multiple occasions between March and October of 2022. It was allegedly a whole side operation. Authorities say Almanza and Salinas used their position to ship the packages while Mendoza gave them the cocaine-filled packages, and Gamez used his home for storage of the drugs before they were moved. Authorities say Lozano provided the fake shipping labels.

Authorities were able to catch 60 kilos of cocaine that the group had allegedly trafficked. UPS also gave a statement to CBS News.

We are aware of the incident involving two UPS employees and we’re cooperating with the investigation. As this is an ongoing investigation, we are not able to make additional comments at this time, but instead defer to investigating authorities.

All five face charges of possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute. If convicted, they face up to life in prison and up to $10 million in fines.