ATLANTA — A high-level drug trafficker extradited from Mexico is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to trafficking more than 170 pounds of cocaine into Cobb and Fulton counties.

Orfael Macedo-Bustos oversaw tractor-trailer shipments of cocaine from Mexico to metro Atlanta, where the drugs were stored in stash houses before being distributed throughout the area.

According to DEA Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Michael Connolly, investigators seized five shipments of cocaine connected to the operation.

“We’re talking of upwards of 170 pounds of cocaine, which at a wholesale value is about $1.5 million, and in street value is about $7.5 million,” Connolly said.

Connolly said Macedo-Bustos personally monitored the transportation of the drugs, including following shipments as they traveled from Texas to Atlanta.

“When they got to Texas they would switch the trucks and he would oversee this, and then Macedo-Bustos would be in a trail car and he would follow the truck all the way from Texas to Atlanta,” Connolly said.

Once the shipments arrived in Atlanta, the cocaine was taken to multiple stash houses before being distributed throughout the metro area.

Despite living in Mexico, Macedo-Bustos was indicted by federal authorities and later extradited to the United States to face charges.

“We will pursue you and it doesn’t matter where you go whether it’s Mexico or another country; we will work to get you arrested, extradited back to the United States and held accountable for what you’ve done,” Connolly said.

Macedo-Bustos faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole.

WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Veronica Waters contributed to this story.