A 43-year-old Mexican national has been sentenced to 27 years in federal prison for leading an international drug trafficking ring that smuggled more than 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine into the United States, federal authorities announced Wednesday.

Arturo Leija-Alvarado was sentenced in a San Antonio federal court after leading a conspiracy that utilized commercial shipments of lettuce to conceal massive quantities of narcotics bound for Texas communities.

The backstory: According to court documents, Leija had a extensive history of immigration violations prior to launching the drug operation: He had been removed from the United States on at least three separate occasions.