9 arrested in federal investigation into drug trafficking at New Mexico prison

MILAN, NM — Nine people were arrested this week in connection with an alleged drug-trafficking operation at a federal prison in a small New Mexico town, authorities said Friday.

The arrests were made Wednesday as the FBI and US Marshals Service searched 13 homes in the northwest part of the state, mostly in Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city.

Among those arrested were two people currently in jail at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, an hour’s drive west of Albuquerque. About 750 people, including some held on immigration detainers, are incarcerated at the private prison.

In a news release announcing the arrests, authorities described the drug-trafficking operation as a “significant drug-trafficking network” that extends beyond the walls of the minimum-security prison, including spouses, family members and associates of inmates.

Corrections officers recently found more than 1,000 pills of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine at the prison, according to a copy of the federal government’s search warrant for the 13 homes this week. Authorities said they seized 15 firearms, ammunition, fentanyl, methamphetamine and thousands of dollars during the searches.

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate the exploitation of addiction for profit in our correctional facilities,” Alexander Uballez, the U.S. attorney for New Mexico, said in a statement.