9 people have been arrested at the New Mexico prison as part of a federal drug trafficking investigation

MILAN, NM – Nine people were arrested at a federal prison in a small New Mexico town this week in connection with a suspected drug trafficking operation, authorities announced Friday.

The arrests came Wednesday as the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service searched 13 homes in the northwestern part of the state, mostly in Albuquerque, New Mexico's largest city.

Among those arrested were two people currently incarcerated at the Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, an hour's drive west of Albuquerque. The private prison holds about 750 people, including some held by immigration detainees.

In a news release announcing the arrests, authorities described the drug trafficking operation as a “significant drug trafficking network” that extended beyond the walls of the minimum-security prison to include inmates' spouses, family members and associates.

Corrections officers recently found more than 1,000 fentanyl pills, heroin and methamphetamine at the prison, according to a copy of the federal government's request to search the 13 apartments this week. Authorities said they seized 15 firearms, ammunition, fentanyl, methamphetamine and thousands of dollars during the searches.

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate the exploitation of addiction for profit in our correctional facilities,” Alexander Uballez, the U.S. attorney in New Mexico, said in a statement.