May 02 , 2017 Contact: Public Information Officer (215) 852-8740 PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Tuggle of DEA’s Philadelphia Field Division announced today that 42,950.43 pounds of prescription drugs were collected across Pennsylvania and Delaware by DEA and its partner agencies during the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day event this...

WASHINGTON - Addictive prescription drugs that are thrown away or left untended on shelves and in drawers at home are often stolen and either abused or sold by family members and visitors. That’s why the DEA and thousands of its state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners are...

PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent in Charge Gary Tuggle of the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA) Philadelphia Field Division announced today that the DEA will sponsor a play entitled Off-Script for the students of Cornell High School in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania as part of the DEA’s ongoing 360 Strategy to address prescription opioid and...

WASHINGTON - DEA and other federal officials today announced the arrest of Kassim Tajideen, a prominent financial supporter of the Hizballah terror organization. Tajideen is charged with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him because of his financial support of Hizballah. Tajideen, 62, of Beirut, Lebanon, was arrested overseas on March...

PHILADELPHIA - Special Agent-in-Charge Gary Tuggle of the DEA Philadelphia Field Division announced today that DEA will train members of the Hermitage Police Department in Mercer County on the use of Naloxone that was purchased for them through funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol (DDAP). In 2015...

WASHINGTON - A senior paramilitary leader and one of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers was sentenced on Friday to serve 198 months in prison for his role leading an international drug trafficking conspiracy responsible for the importation of ton-quantities of cocaine into the United States. DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg...

WASHINGTON D.C. - China’s National Narcotics Control Commission announced this week that scheduling controls against four fentanyl-class substances - carfentanil, furanyl fentanyl, valeryl fentanyl, and acryl fentanyl - will begin on March 1, 2017. This announcement is the culmination of ongoing collaboration between the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Government...

WASHINGTON - DEA and the Southern District of New York today announced the arrival of four individuals from Kenya to New York charged with participating in a massive global drug trafficking enterprise, and includes the leader of a well-known organized crime family in Africa. BAKTASH AKASHA ABDALLA, a/k/a “Baktash Akasha,”...

MONGOMERY, Ala. - Dr. Robert M. Ritchea, 54, of LaGrange, Georgia, pled guilty to conspiring to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance through operating a “pill mill” and money laundering scheme, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Bret Hamilton and United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. A “pill mill”...

WASHINGTON - Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates today announced that Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases including “El Chapo,” will face charges filed in Brooklyn, New York, following his extradition to the United States from Mexico, alleging that he was operating a continuing criminal enterprise and other...