Lake County law enforcement helped play a significant role in helping the DEA arrest two men who were allegedly found with almost 350 pounds of cocaine, worth $15 million, in Cook County.
Burhan Ozerdinc, 33, of Oak Lawn, and Ahmad Sanducka, 33, of Mount Prospect, were charged with manufacturing or delivery of over 900 grams of cocaine, a Class X felony, and possession of cocaine over 900 grams, a Class 1 felony.
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Chicago Field Division Special Agent in Charge Todd C. Smith announced the drug charges, filed by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, on Friday.
Smith said the arrests were as a result of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation.
DEA Chicago Field Division personnel carried out a court-authorized search warrant at a residence in River Grove.
Investigators seized 339.5 pounds of cocaine, or approximately 154 kilograms, and approximately $700,000 in cash, according to the DEA.
A DEA spokesperson said the drugs were street-valued at an estimated $15.2 million.
Ozerdinc and Sanducka were arrested in connection with the search warrant and transported to the Cook County Jail.
The case was investigated by the DEA Chicago Field Division, with support from Customs and Border Protection and numerous Chicagoland police departments.
Those include the Buffalo Grove Police Department, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Group, Chicago Police Department, Elmhurst Police Department, Elgin Police Department, Woodridge Police Department, Justice Police Department and the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Christopher Covelli said the sheriff’s Special Investigations Group (SIG) has a detective assigned as a Task Force Officer with the DEA Chicago Field Division.
“In that role, the detective has been involved in the broader investigation into a transnational criminal organization responsible for distributing large quantities of narcotics throughout the region and across the country,” Covelli said.
The sheriff’s detective was one of the lead investigators in this investigation, Covelli said.
He said that the SIG’s participation reflects the sheriff’s office’s proactive approach to identifying and disrupting drug trafficking organizations before narcotics make their way into Lake County communities, “which this cocaine was destined to reach.”
“Keeping dangerous drugs and the people who traffic them out of Lake County is a priority for our Office and our Special Investigations Group. Our detectives work closely with our law enforcement partners to identify and disrupt these organizations, and we are proud of the role our detective played in this investigation,” Sheriff John Idleburg told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
Prosecutors said DEA agents tracked a semi-truck to a Franklin Park warehouse late last month where Ozerdinc was seen loading a large cardboard box into his Subaru before driving to a garage in River Grove and later that day making narcotics transactions at a Mariano’s parking garage and in Mount Prospect.
Over the following weeks, agents watched Ozerdinc pick up Sanducka from his Mount Prospect home and drive to the River Grove stash house after switching cars and on Monday saw Sanducka unload 11 white-handled boxes at the Franklin Park warehouse, prosecutors said.
The boxes were recovered the next day and contained 198 bricks of cocaine when the semi was stopped in Indiana.
Agents also stopped a Mercedes van Sanducka had driven out of the stash house garage and found a USPS box filled with cash, a heat sealer and heat-sealing plastic, prosecutors said.
Search warrants recovered roughly 154 “bricks” of cocaine at the stash house along with a money counter, rubber bands, nitrile gloves, vacuum sealers, cell phones and a backpack holding a prescription bottle in Sanducka’s name, plus another cash-filled USPS box in Ozerdinc’s Subaru and a money counter, heat sealer and several thousand dollars at Sanducka’s house.
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Kristyna C. Ryan granted petitions to detain Sanducka and Ozerdinc while they await trial.
They are scheduled to appear for preliminary hearings on October 2.