International Drug Network Operated from Ohio State Penitentiary by Brian Lumbus Jr.

Brian Lumbus Jr., operating from within the Ohio State Penitentiary, allegedly led an international drug trafficking ring.

Operating from within the Ohio State Penitentiary, Brian Lumbus Jr., facing state charges, spearheaded an international drug trafficking ring, importing substances like fentanyl from China, India, and Italy for distribution in the U.S.

The indictment revealed that Lumbus collaborated with ten co-defendants to disperse illegal drugs across Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania.

Giancarlo Miserotti, an Italian national now in custody in Italy, worked with Lumbus to acquire illicit substances from China. The operation involved sending them first to Italy before shipping them to the U.S. to avoid detection by American customs officials.

U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio stated that Lumbus orchestrated the organization despite being incarcerated at the Ohio State Penitentiary, obtaining, assembling, and repackaging drugs for distribution with the help of accomplices both from the United States and abroad.

According to court documents, in February 2021, Miserotti, posing as an American opioid retailer, discussed pricing for the controlled substance Isotonitazene with a contact in China. Subsequent phone conversations between Miserotti and Lumbus in the months that followed allegedly revolved around shipments of narcotics mixtures and new products.

Prosecutors claimed that Lumbus’ co-defendants bought and received parcels containing the illegal substances, which they then combined and disseminated across the region.

In October 2022, phone conversations revealed plans to transport stronger substances to Tennessee. In the same month, five co-defendants allegedly obtained a mixture containing around 40 grams of fentanyl with the intent to distribute it.

Court documents revealed that Lumbus and Miserotti, discussing a separate shipment a month later, allegedly acknowledged the potency of a mixture containing Metonitazene, a powerful opioid, expressing concern about a related death. Some co-defendants were accused of using Bitcoin to facilitate transactions related to illegal goods.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco condemned the defendants for orchestrating an international conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and other deadly drugs across the Ohio Valley, displaying complete disregard for their victims’ lives.

According to confirmation from the Justice Department, a few of the accused were taken into custody and brought to federal court in Cleveland on Tuesday.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-man-international-drug-trafficking-operation-prison/