WASHINGTON – On September 4, 2025, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unveiled and dedicated a new memorial in honor of 10 Foreign-deployed Advisory and Support Team (FAST) members – three DEA Special Agents and seven U.S. military personnel – whose lives were lost in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan...

Washington, DC – In August 2025, Christopher C. Goumenis was appointed as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division, which covers the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV). SAC Goumenis has a three-decade career in law enforcement, dedicated to tackling violent crime...

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...

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi joined DEA Leadership, and the men and women of the DEA El Paso Field Division, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 to announce the single largest seizure of fentanyl pills in DEA history. During an enforcement operation the last week of April, agents from the DEA...

Washington, DC – In January 2025, Ibrar A. Mian was appointed as the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Washington Division, which covers the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV). Special Agent in Charge Mian's vast experience in both domestic and international drug investigations...

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,”...

WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration has announced the appointment of Derek S. Maltz as Acting Administrator of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Maltz replaces Anne Milgram who departed the agency last week. Maltz is a passionate, dedicated, career special agent who served 28 years at DEA before retiring in 2014...