Eleven people received a total of 123 years in prison Wednesday as authorities dismantled a drug trafficking ring that used Midwestern train cars to transport meth and fentanyl, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indiana said. The defendants faced a range of drug charges, including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of methamphetamine and unlawful use of a communication facility. The group conspired to distribute nearly 400 pounds of methamphetamine and more than seven kilograms of fentanyl between September 2021 and November 2022, in cahoots with a Mexican cartel, the feds said. Ringleader Erick “Bustos” Romero, 35, and his cohorts were snagged in October 2022 when Drug Enforcement Administration agents found 68 kilograms of meth and more than seven kilograms of fentanyl in a train in Nebraska, “hidden in a top-side void of the rail car that had been welded shut,” the attorney’s office said in a statement. Most of the drugs were destined for the streets of Indianapolis via “the United States Postal Service, commercial land vehicle smuggling, and the use of trains.” When DEA agents arrested two other conspirators in their Indianapolis home in December 2022, they found nine black PVC pipes stuffed with methamphetamine and stamped with “Hecho en Mexico.” More drugs were found in plastic bags. There were also, naturally, guns, and 20 firearms were seized from various members of the ring. All 11 were indicted that month. “International cartels have flooded our communities with poisons, using planes, trains, automobiles, and even the U.S. mail to smuggle fentanyl and meth into our communities right here in Indiana for local distribution,” said Zachary Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “Every link in this chain fuels the death and misery touching far too many of our families — and must be dismantled.” Indiana saw 2,682 overdose deaths in 2022, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.