PHOENIX - Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman announced today the unsealing of an indictment against Jose Guadalupe Tapia-Quintero, 42, a Mexican national and high ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel. Tapia-Quintero was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2013 on various counts including Conspiracy...

WASHINGTON - Aurelio Cano Flores, a Mexican national and high ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, was found guilty today by a federal jury of conspiring to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal...

PHOENIX - On Feb. 4, 2013, Robert Francis Dayaye, Jr. (a.k.a. “Fat Rob”), 33, of Whiteriver, Ariz., was sentenced by U.S. District Judges Neil V. Wake and G. Murray Snow to a combined term of imprisonment of 15 years. Dayaye pleaded guilty on Oct. 5, 2102, to possession with intent...

WASHINGTON - Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar, aka “Mamito” and “Caballero,” a high ranking member of the “Los Zetas” drug cartel, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy to import multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana into the United States, announced Administrator Michele M. Leonhart of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and Assistant Attorney...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart and Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, announced that Richard Ammar Chichakli, an associate of convicted international arms dealer, Viktor Bout, was arrested yesterday in Australia for, among other things, allegedly conspiring with Bout and others to violate the International Emergency Economic...

PHOENIX - U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk announced today that Judge Michael Bluff of the Yavapai County Superior Court has granted a Permanent Injunction to ban all known retailers from selling synthetic drugs in Yavapai County. Judge Bluff signed...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) published its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the Disposal of Controlled Substances in the Federal Register Dec. 21. The proposed regulations seek to implement the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010. According to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services...

PHOENIX - On December 19, 2012, Doug Coleman, Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement (DEA) Phoenix Field Division and U.S. Attorney John S. Leonardo announced that Francisco Alfredo Montes-Vargas, of Culiacan, Mexico, was sentenced to 292 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised...

PHOENIX - On April 25, 2012, a federal grand jury in Phoenix returned a 76 count superseding indictment against 11 defendants charging them with multiple crimes including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana, structuring financial transactions through a domestic financial institution and promotional money laundering. The defendants are...

DEC 11 - (WASHINGTON, D.C.) - - DEA and other federal officials announced today that HSBC Holdings (HSBC Group) - a United Kingdom corporation headquartered in London - and HSBC Bank USA N.A. (HSBC Bank USA) (together, HSBC) - a federally chartered banking corporation headquartered in McLean, Va. - have...