The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Postal Service and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced Monday they have taken down a drug smuggling operation based in Jacksonville that reached from Mexico and across the country to California.

The break in the investigation they called Operation Dotcom came with a traffic stop of the ringleader of the operation -- identified as 29-year-old George Waziri -- that turned up $72,000 in a hidden compartment in his car.

Sheriff John Rutherford said the investigation led to the arrests Waziri and 16 others on drug trafficking and conspiracy charges, mostly in Jacksonville. There are arrest warrants for four additional people on charges resulting from the investigation.

Rutherford said the drug ring smuggled 200 kilograms of cocaine with a street value of $6 million through Jacksonville. The drugs were sold in northeast Florida, Atlanta, Arizona and California.

The drugs were smuggled in hidden panels of vehicles and in shipments through the U.S. Post Office and private parcel services.

"This is very significant drug bust," Rutherford said. "We know, historically, 200 kilos a year being moved by this organization. That is very, very significant."

The name of the operation came from the ringleader's nickname: Dot. It had nothing to do with the Internet.

Nine guns, nine vehicles and $330,000 in cash were seized as a result of the investigation.