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 – A Mexican national was sentenced in federal court to 300 months in prison for one count of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, 180 months for one count of straw purchasing firearms and trafficking in firearms, and 60 months for one count of conspiracy...

ALBUQUERQUE – An Albuquerque man was sentenced to 248 months in prison for drug trafficking and firearms offenses after being found in possession of over 500 grams of methamphetamine and two firearms in a stolen vehicle. There is no parole in the federal system. According to court documents and evidence...

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 – An Albuquerque man was convicted by a federal jury, after less than 30 minutes of deliberation, of possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and possession of a firearm and ammunition by a felon. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, between...

ALBUQUERQUE – A Mexican national was convicted by a federal jury of drug trafficking and firearms offenses after less than 22 minutes of deliberation. According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, on February 22, 2022 , Albuquerque Police Department Officers (APD) were dispatched to a stolen vehicle call...

ALBUQUERQUE – A Carlsbad man was sentenced to 240 months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of possession with intent to distribute 50 grams and more of methamphetamine and one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Manuel Pineda Montoya , 44, was...

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...

ALBUQUERQUE – A federal judge sentenced an Albuquerque man to 57 months in federal prison for maintaining a drug-involved premises in southeast Albuquerque. As the manager of the Best Choice Inn, Kamal Bhula, 44, of Albuquerque, profited from in a kickback scheme that required drug traffickers and users to pay...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – 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 that Danyell Kerr, Jr. was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Kerr, 32, of Albuquerque, pled guilty to...