NEW ORLEANS, La. – After a week-long, targeted operation across the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) New Orleans Division’s four-state jurisdiction of Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Mississippi, the DEA – working with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners – arrested 38 individuals with ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. All...

WASHINGTON – Just days into his new role, DEA Administrator Terrance Cole met with a law enforcement delegation from Italy, signifying the agency’s renewed focus on working with foreign law enforcement to meet the evolving threats of the global drug crisis. On July 24, DEA Administrator Cole, DEA Deputy Chief...

Tampa, Fla. – U.S. District Judge William F. Jung has sentenced Vicente Lopez Mero (67, Ecuador) to 19 years and 6 months in federal prison for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute cocaine on a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. Lopez Mero pleaded guilty on...

LOS ANGELES – A commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP) foreign terrorist organization and his associate have been charged in a six-count superseding indictment alleging they are senior members of a large cocaine-manufacturing ring that trades cocaine to buy firearms to engage in terrorist...

EL PASO, Texas – A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel was extradited from Mexico to El Paso, indicted for criminal charges related to his alleged federal racketeering, narcotics, money laundering, firearms, and continuing criminal enterprise offenses. According to court documents, Daniel Franco Lopez aka “Micha” aka “Neon” aka “Fer,”...

From November 12-13, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) participated in the tenth Bilateral Drug Intelligence Working Group in Shanghai, China. DOJ, DEA, and CBP officials met with law enforcement counterparts from China’s Ministry of...

Orlando, Fla. – U.S. District Judge Paul G. Byron today sentenced George Pherai-Bogeajis, 35, Orlando, to 19 years and 7 months in federal prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and fentanyl and possessing firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. The court also ordered Pherai-Bogeajis to forfeit four vehicles and four...

LOS ANGELES – A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder and 15 other defendants have been charged in a 16-count superseding indictment for allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other...

ATHENS, GREECE – This week, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Citizen Protection presided over the 38th annual International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) in Greece. Hundreds of top drug enforcement officials from more than 130 countries discussed innovative ways to expand international cooperation with a...

Gulfport, Mississippi – A former Biloxi City Councilman was sentenced to 72 months in prison for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a Schedule I controlled substance. According to court documents and information presented to the court, in 2019, Robert Leon Deming, III, 47, founded the Candy Shop, LLC...