McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A drug smuggler with links to Rio Grande Valley politicians was arrested last week in Las Vegas.

Armando Adan Aguilar Jr., 45, of Mission distributed “thousands of kilograms of cocaine,” according to the criminal complaint against him.

“Right now they’re just allegations,” said attorney Rick Salinas of Mission, who represents Aguilar. “And we’re going to go through the court process.”

Aguilar is a career criminal who spent the past two decades selling drugs and serving prison sentences.

In 2001, when Aguilar was just 21 years old, a federal grand jury indicted him for possession of more than 5 kilograms of cocaine.

Documents filed in the 20-year-old case don’t provide any details and the Clerk’s Office for the Southern District of Texas couldn’t provid

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