SAN DIEGO - Evelio Padilla-Zepeda, a Honduran national, pleaded guilty in federal court today, admitting that he donned a wetsuit and scuba gear and smuggled 55 pounds of cocaine through an underwater drug tunnel that exited into the All-American Canal just north of the international border. Padilla-Zepeda entered his plea...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) announced today a toll-free tip line where the general public in the United States, Mexico, Central and South America can report any information that could aid in the apprehension of Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, who escaped a Mexican prison in...

WASHINGTON - DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg today announced that the 10th National Prescription Drug Take-Back will take place September 26th from 10 am-2 pm local time in every state but Pennsylvania and Delaware, where the event will take place on September 12. As with the previous nine Take-Back events...

SAN DIEGO - DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg today announced that the 10th National Prescription Drug Take-Back will take place September 26th from 10 am-2 pm local time. As with the previous nine Take-Back events, sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can return their unwanted...

WASHINGTON - The Drug Enforcement (DEA) today announced charges against three significant Afghan heroin traffickers, two of which were arrested in Thailand and subsequently brought to the United States. Haji Lajaward, Amal Said Said Alam Shah, a/k/a “Haji Zar Mohammad,” and Habibullah were charged with conspiring to import heroin into...

SAN DIEGO - During the past two years, DEA has partnered with Naval Criminal Investigative Service, (NCIS), Camp Pendleton and 32nd Street offices, and the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office to make a series of undercover purchases at Aroma Avenue and Cabana Smoke Shop. These purchases were made at...

WASHINGTON - The National Heroin Threat Assessment (NHTA), released today by the United States Drug Enforcement (DEA), shows heroin use and availability on the rise and causing more overdose deaths than at any time in the last decade. Although fewer people presently use heroin than other illicit drugs, the heroin...

SAN DIEGO - Jose Rodrigo Arechiga-Gamboa, also known as “Chino Antrax,” pleaded guilty in federal court today. Chino Antrax admitted that as a high-level member of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel he and his co-conspirators coordinated the transportation of tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States and ordered or...

WASHINGTON - DEA Special Agent Joseph Piersante today became the first-ever member of DEA to receive the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom - . Piersante was struck by enemy gun fire while on a counter-terrorism and narcotics mission in Afghanistan in 2011. The Defense of Freedom...

WASHINGTON - The United States Drug Enforcement (DEA) today issued a nationwide alert about the dangers of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues/compounds. Fentanyl is commonly laced in heroin, causing significant problems across the country, particularly as heroin abuse has increased. This alert was issued through the multi-agency El Paso Intelligence (EPIC)...