KRGV.com

A major cartel drug operation in Florida reportedly has ties to the Rio Grande Valley. The Gulf Cartel runs drugs from McAllen to central Florida.

Documents say the cartels are operating in our area. Their operations span across the United States.

If the miles on the vehicles at a raid in Weslaco could tell the path of its drivers, investigators say it would be a path of crime. Investigators say that raid has ties to a Gulf Cartel ring in McAllen. Crime is spanning out of Texas and cross the southeast, reaching Washington County, Florida.

"This county was a distribution point," says Washington County Sheriff Bobby Haddock.

Haddock's deputies, along with federal agents, raided a drug warehouse. The drugs totaled nearly 3,000 pounds.

"If they're smuggling this across, then what else could be smuggled across as far as anything else to do harm to the United States?" says Haddock.

The feds say the drugs didn't stop there. Agents took cars, motorcycles from the property at a raid in Orlando, Fla. Investigators were seen carrying shovels on the property to dig for money reportedly buried in the yard. A source told investigators that at one point, the Gulf Cartel had $2 million buried in Florida while they waited to move the cash to Texas.

"It's a major blow for that cartel. It's a big major blow for these local people. There's a lot of people ducking their heads now. When you can go in and basically for our area cut the head of the snake off, you've done a major blow here," says Haddock.

Investigators say all of the proceeds from the drugs would go back to the Gulf Cartel operatives in McAllen. In McAllen, the federal paper trail ends. Investigators need more clues, more evidence to lead to more arrests.