Utah's SECURE Strike Force has arrested 21 people and seized several thousand containers of drugs illegally smuggled in from Mexico to stores in Salt Lake, Utah, Weber, Davis, Tooele and Summit counties.

Assistant Attorney General Jake Taylor said Thursday that agents raided 27 Latino-operated markets at various locations, recovering large quantities of prescription drugs and other medicines, not approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.

Taylor said investigators continue to look into possible links to organized crime organizations south of the border, including infamous Mexican drug cartels, but had not yet confirmed any direct links.

In addition to an assortment of pain medications, agents seized pills, tablets, capsules and injectable antibiotics, steroids and other drugs during an operation that began Monday.

"The clandestine sales of illegal pharmaceuticals is big business for some of these stores," stated Ken Wallentine, chief of law enforcement for the Utah Attorney General's Office. "One store had $40,000 in cash hidden with the stash of pharmaceuticals. Another store had nearly a quarter-million dollars in cash concealed with the drugs and a set of books suggesting a huge volume in back-door drug sales."

The drugs were being sold without a prescription and under the counter at a number of retail establishments. None of the stores had a pharmacy license and none employed a licensed and trained pharmacy staff, officials said.

"Obviously, we're concerned with sales of Lortab and other potent painkillers, but medical professionals have raised a substantial alarm about the dangers of using many of the other drugs seized without any medical diagnosis," said Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

Wilfred Cabistan was one of the 21 people arrested Monday. Cabistan was identified as a major importer of illegal pharmaceuticals. A search of a storage facility controlled by Cabistan allegedly yielded nearly 1,500 containers of smuggled prescription pills.

"Unfettered distribution of powerful antibiotics creates a very significant public-health threat," Wallentine said. "Improper use of these drugs can help breed a superbug that could cause a wide-scale pandemic, potentially endangering tens of thousands of persons."

Special agents of the Attorney General's Office were assisted by police from Park City, Logan, Payson, Ogden, Clearfield and West Valley City, as well as by the U.S. Marshals Service Joint Criminal Apprehension Team (JCAT), the Unified Police Department, Utah County Major Crimes Squad and the Weber-Morgan Strike Force. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations agents also assisted with identification of undocumented immigrants.

remims@sltrib.com