TUCSON, Ariz. - Several United Parcel Service employees are among nearly a dozen people accused of shipping illegal drugs undetected out of Tucson.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday that a grand jury indicted 11 people on 48 counts including money laundering, illegally conducting an enterprise and related charges.
The defendants include four UPS employees.
The indictment is the culmination of a two-year investigation conducted by Tucson police, Homeland Security Investigations and the attorney general's office.
State prosecutors say the UPS workers and three others used closed business accounts to ship packages of contraband nationwide. Undercover officers said they were able to send and receive packages of illegal drugs like marijuana through a shipment hub in Tucson between November 2018 and last June.
Over the course of the investigation, authorities say they came across four others who were manufacturing and selling thousands of counterfeit vape pens.
The vape pens contained counterfeit versions of the marijuana compound THC.
Representatives for UPS did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
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US agents, Tucson police arrest 11 in drug, laundering bust