PHOENIX - The DEA’s Phoenix Field Division has finished recording the total amount of drugs collected from those agencies who participated in Saturday’s National Take Back event. Once again, Arizonans turned out in significant numbers and disposed of 9,576.35 pounds, over four tons, of prescription drugs. The total for this...

PHOENIX - DEA announced the 13th National Prescription Drug Take-Back will take place April 29th from 10 am-2 pm local time. As with the previous Take-Back events, sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can anonymously return their unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs for safe...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Two Ecuadoran brothers were indicted in the Western District of Washington for ten felony counts related to distribution of heroin and laundering the proceeds of their drug sales. Fredy Ramon Gutama-Gutama, 25, and Fabian Martin Gutama-Gutama, 20, both of Lynnwood, Washington, were observed by law enforcement between...

PHOENIX - The DEA is alerting all citizens to drug overdose deaths tied to counterfeit pills laced with powerful opioid fentanyl. Manufactured by Mexican drug trafficking (DTOs) and sold as oxycodone on the illicit drug market, fentanyl is an opioid 100 times stronger than morphine. These counterfeit pills are smuggled...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Enrique Aguiliar Valencia, the leader of a drug trafficking organization, who admits his connection to the Los Zetas drug cartel was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 12 years in prison. Valencia, 55, who resided in Fremont, California, led a drug distribution ring that...

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Three defendants were sentenced to federal prison last week for drug trafficking, announced Drug Enforcement (DEA) Assistant Special Agent in Charge Matthew Barden and Kenneth Elser, United States Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas. Santiago (aka Chuco), age 47, of Commerce, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 151...

PHOENIX - The DEA announced the recent discovery of three overdose deaths involving the synthetic opioid U-47700, commonly referred to as “Pink.” The toxicology and investigative reports documenting the fatalities were shared with agents and intelligence resources as part of ongoing efforts by DEA’s Heroin Enforcement Action (HEAT), an enforcement...

SEATTLE - Cardinal Health has agreed to pay $34 million in civil penalties to resolve allegations that the Lakeland, Florida-based distributor failed to report to the Drug Enforcement (DEA) suspicious orders of Class II controlled substances by pharmacies located in central Florida and Maryland. The settlement also resolves a civil...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Today, Maurice Abad Malabed, aka “Moe,” 47, and David Patrick Christensen, 29, both of Anchorage were indicted by a federal grand jury in Anchorage for trafficking in methamphetamine bound for Utqiaġvik, (formerly Barrow, Alaska). The indictment charges Malabed and Christensen with conspiracy, attempted distribution, and possession with...

TACOMA, Wash. - An investigation begun by the Drug Enforcement Administration and the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team in February 2014 resulted today in the arrest of 19 people with ties to a methamphetamine distribution ring. Law enforcement served 24 search warrants on locations in Washington and Arizona in connection...