Jorge "The Filipino" Torres, an alleged key player in a drug trafficking operation accused of shipping massive amounts of methamphetamine to Australia and other parts of the world, has been arrested in Los Angeles.
Torres is one of 17 defendants with colourful aliases named in a secret 2017 grand jury indictment recently unsealed by prosecutors.
The 66-year-old from Ontario, California, entered not guilty pleas to one count of drug trafficking and two counts of money laundering when he appeared in a downtown LA courtroom on Wednesday.
Prosecutors claim the drug trafficking organisation attempted to ship 119.7kg of methamphetamine to Sydney last year, but it was seized in Memphis, Tennessee.
The organisation also allegedly used shell companies to obtain shipping documents used to send drugs to Australia, the Philippines and other nations.
Torres, also known by the nicknames El Fillip and Fillipins, is accused of coordinating drug shipments to the Philippines and then importing them to the United States.
A Christmas Day, 2013, raid on Torres' rooster ranch in the Philippines found approximately 84kg of methamphetamine, prosecutors alleged.
Other alleged members named in the indictment include Hector "Stallone" Flores, Roberto "Razor" Gomez and Jose "Greenhills" Gamez.
Most of the fugitives are believed to be in Mexico, prosecutors said.
