DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA — A yearlong joint investigation by the FBI Raleigh Durham Safe Streets Task Force and the Durham County Sheriff’s Office has dismantled a cocaine and fentanyl trafficking operation in Durham, resulting in the conviction of ten defendants who were collectively sentenced to 61 years and six months in federal prison — with a tractor-trailer seized in New Mexico carrying 54 pounds of cocaine and nearly 2.5 pounds of fentanyl as a key piece of the case.
In total, investigators seized 24.5 kilograms of cocaine and 2.5 kilograms of fentanyl during the investigation.
The ten defendants, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina, received the following federal prison sentences: Khuram Choudhry, 17 years; Kevin Johnson, 17 years; Shazad Khan, 10 years; Matt Morton, seven months; Dwight Chandler, four years and three months; Shance Bostic, three years; Jerrell Green, two years and six months; Jason Chase, two years and four months; Wendy Rizo-Bodden, two years; and Jamaal Robertson, five years and six months.
Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead said the operation made the community measurably safer. “Taking 10 dangerous drug traffickers off our streets — including repeat violent offenders who put law enforcement lives at risk — makes Durham County safer. Collectively, these defendants received more than six decades of federal prison time, which demonstrates our unwavering commitment to addressing drug trafficking and violent crime to protect everyone in our community.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Reid Davis said the case sent a clear message. “If you traffic drugs in our communities, the FBI will find you, we will dismantle your operation, and you will be held fully accountable.”
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