40 pounds of meth, 80 bricks of cocaine flown from California to Lexington airport

UPDATE: Agents staked out Lexington airport for plane filled with cocaine, meth

Three men conspired to bring 80 bricks of cocaine and 40 pounds of methamphetamine by plane from California to Blue Grass Airport, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.

Isaac Basilio Rosas, Cedric Allen Oronce Fajardo and Robert Walter Carlson were arrested Friday and made their first appearance Monday in U.S. District Court in Lexington. Each is charged with conspiring to distribute controlled substances.

Authorities in Orlando, Fla., and Van Nuys, Calif., alerted Homeland Security agents in Kentucky that a bulk shipment of drugs would be flown from California to Lexington, according to an affidavit filed in court. Law enforcement officers in Van Nuys photographed suitcases being loaded Friday onto the aircraft.

Homeland Security agents and Kentucky State Police began surveillance of the Tac Air terminal in Lexington and saw the private jet land and taxi to the terminal Friday afternoon.

One suitcase from the plane was loaded into a BMW car that later ran a stop sign and was stopped by state police. A drug-sniffing dog indicated the presence of drugs, and a search of the suitcase found that it contained about 40 pounds of meth, the affidavit says.

A later search of the plane found 80 bricks of suspected cocaine in three pieces of luggage, the affidavit says. Each brick weighed about 1 kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds.

A preliminary hearing for the three men is scheduled for Friday.

This story was originally published April 24, 2017 at 4:59 PM with the headline "40 pounds of meth, 80 bricks of cocaine flown from California to Lexington airport."