Two Mexican nationals were arrested on drug trafficking charges following a joint law enforcement effort involving the Massachusetts State Police and the FBI.

On Monday, August 29, Gerardo Madrigal Quintero, 23, of Culiacan, Mexico, and Joel Enrique Armenta Castro, 30, of Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico by multiple law enforcement agencies after allegedly exchanging drugs at the Ludlow Service Plaza on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

The two men were charged with trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, and conspiracy to violate drug law, according to the FBI.

Quintero was driving a tractor trailer at the time of his arrest.

From a Massachusetts State Police news release:

The arrests stemmed from information, developed through an FBI investigation, that two Mexican suppliers were heading to Massachusetts to deliver a large load of cocaine from Mexico. With assistance from the Massachusetts State Police’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Section and Air Wing, along with the FBI Boston Division’s Springfield office, investigators tracked the tractor trailer operated by QUINTERO to the Ludlow Service Plaza. After witnessing an exchange of narcotics between QUINTERO and CASTRO, agents, task force officers, and Troopers took CASTRO into custody. A short time later, Troopers from the State Police-Westfield Barracks stopped the tractor trailer unit operated by QUINTERO on Route 91 South in Longmeadow and took him into custody without incident.

Authorities seized approximately 15 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of $500,000.

The tractor trailer that Quintero was driving was also seized by authorities.

Other agencies aiding in the investigation include the Concord, Hudson, Peabody, Reading, Waltham and Watertown Police Departments, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Department.