Mexican drug cartel member gets 11-year sentence

SAN DIEGO (AP) — A member of a Mexican drug cartel has been sentenced in San Diego for helping ship truckloads of narcotics into the United States.

Jesus Manuel Salazar-Nunez was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

Prosecutors said Salazar-Nunez worked for the Sinaloa Cartel helping arrange for tractor-trailers to carry methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin hidden among canned food and drinks, frozen shrimp, vegetable boxes and other goods.

The drugs were trucked from Sinaloa to a Tijuana warehouse, unloaded, distributed to couriers and smuggled across the border to San Diego.

Salazar-Nunez was arrested in 2015 at the Atlanta airport and pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to import drugs.

Authorities say the case is part of a five-year investigation that has led to criminal charges against more than 125 people.