A hard-hitting crime journalist for Grimy Times has uncovered a shocking case of international narcotics and weapons trafficking in New York. Mittel Patel, a 47-year-old UK national, has been sentenced to 186 months in prison for conspiring to import approximately 400 kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
The illicit trafficking of narcotics and weapons poses an extreme threat to all New Yorkers and all Americans – and that threat is real, said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. Patel conspired to sell an arsenal of military-grade weaponry to persons he believed to be working for a violent drug cartel so the purported cartel could protect a shipment of hundreds of kilograms of deadly narcotics into the United States.
Patel was a narcotics and weapons trafficker based in London, United Kingdom. In 2021, an undercover DEA agent (UC-1) began communicating with Patel about possible narcotics and weapons transactions, including Patel and Patel’s U.S.-based co-conspirators illegally providing UC-1 with an assortment of military-grade weapons, including machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs).
As the discussions evolved, UC-1 conveyed to Patel that UC-1 had arranged to purchase approximately 400 kilograms of cocaine from the Sinaloa Cartel, on the condition that UC-1 provide weapons to the Sinaloa Cartel to protect the drug shipment as it crossed the border from Mexico to the United States and in exchange for Patel providing additional security for future drug shipments.
In August 2022, Patel and his co-conspirators agreed to provide two sample firearms to UC-1, in exchange for $10,000. Patel and his co-conspirators then executed those sample weapons transactions and sent to an address located in the United States, in five separate packages, the parts for an AR-15 assault rifle and a sniper rifle with a scope.
On February 14, 2023, Patel met with UC-1 in Athens, Greece to continue their discussions. Patel was arrested by Greek authorities following the meeting, and he was extradited to the United States on February 15, 2024. In addition to the prison term, Patel was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
The case is being handled by the Office’s National Security and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Bodansky and Jacob H. Gutwillig are in charge of the prosecution. We commend the outstanding efforts of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, the DEA New York Field Office, DEA Athens, the Office of International Affairs, and our law enforcement partners in Greece for their assistance in this case.
We urge all Americans to remain vigilant in the face of these threats. As U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton emphasized, the success of drug and weapons suppliers, and the cartels and other transnational criminal organizations they serve, comes at the cost of innocent American lives.
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Key Facts
- State: New York
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Violent Crime|Weapons
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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