MIDLAND, Texas – A former ranking member of the Texas Mexican Mafia was sentenced in federal court in Midland to 180 months in prison for six counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine. According to court documents, Paul Lujan, 42, of Odessa, was a well-known gang member who had...

ALBUQUERQUE – A Texas woman is facing federal charges after U.S. Border Patrol agents seized more than 20 pounds of cocaine from her vehicle during a checkpoint inspection south of Alamogordo, New Mexico. According to court documents, on the afternoon of June 16, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered Aurelia...

MIDLAND, Texas – A Mexican national unlawfully residing in Texas was sentenced Thursday to life in federal prison for his criminal actions as the leader of a drug trafficking organization tied to a Mexican cartel. According to court documents, Jose Ramon Castillo-Lopez aka “Pepo,” 30, of Namiquipa, Chihuahua, Mexico, supplied...

ALBUQUERQUE – This week, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the U.S. Marshal Service, the Las Cruces Police Department, and the Doña Ana Sheriff’s Office, conducted a coordinated operation to dismantle a significant drug trafficking network in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The operation targeted 15...

EL PASO, Texas – Twenty-one individuals suspected of being affiliated with the Chuco Tango street gang were arrested Thursday in and around El Paso on criminal charges related to their alleged involvement in trafficking of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, and/or the unlawful possession of firearms. The following defendants were indicted...

ALBUQUERQUE – Three of the eight defendants indicted following a joint enforcement operation last year in Carlsbad, pleaded guilty in federal court to federal drug offenses. Carlos Venegas, Jr., 24, of Carlsbad, pleaded guilty on March 4, 2024, to one count each of conspiracy to distribute 50 grams and more...

Note: View the Superseding Indictment . ALBUQUERQUE – Towanda R. Thorne-James, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's El Paso Division and Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced the results of a law enforcement operation that resulted in fifteen defendants being...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Today, Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, Eric Castañeda, Acting Special Agent in Charge for the Drug Enforcement Administration El Paso Division, and Francisco B. Burrola, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations El Paso, and Jeffrey C. Boshek II...

El Paso – A few weeks ago, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced the seizure of over 50.6 million fentanyl-laced, fake prescription pills and more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl powder this calendar year. The El Paso Division, which covers West Texas and the whole state of New Mexico, seized 2,886,783...

EL PASO – A federal jury convicted two Sinaloa Cartel members on Friday for their roles in the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics distribution operations. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Arturo Shows Urquidi, aka “Chous,” 50, of Juarez, Mexico and Mario Iglesias-Villegas, aka “Dos,” “El 2,” “Delta,” “Parka,”...