Two Vancouver men are facing federal drug charges after undercover officers say the pair arranged to buy more than $100,000 worth of methamphetamine from them.
Luis Arnulfo Urioste Bracamontes, 26, and Rafael Avina Torres, 37, appeared Friday in U.S. District Court in Oregon on charges of conspiring to possess with intent to distribute and possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. A judge ordered they be detained while their cases are pending, a U.S. Attorney’s Office news release said.
Agents with Homeland Security said they received information in December that Urioste was involved in selling large quantities of methamphetamine through a Portland-area drug trafficking organization. Investigators arranged to buy 80 pounds of methamphetamine for $104,000 from Urioste, according to court records.
On Jan. 4, investigators observed the sale in the parking lot of a restaurant, and they arrested Urioste, along with Avina, without incident. They seized two cardboard boxes with nearly 80 pounds of packaged methamphetamine from their vehicle, the news release states.
