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,”...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Alexander M.M. Uballez, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, announced that Luis Carlos Vásquez-Barragán, 51, of Nicolás Bravo, Chihuahua, Mexico, was sentenced to prison for possession with intent to distribute at least 50 kilograms but less than 100 kilograms of marijuana. Vásquez-Barragán was arrested...

NEWARK, N.J. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson and U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced a citizen of the Dominican Republic, who was extradited to the United States on money laundering charges, made his...

MILWAUKEE - John G. McGarry, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration-Wisconsin, Renita D. Foster, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Caribbean Division, and U.S. Attorney Richard G. Frohling for the Eastern District of Wisconsin announced the transfer of Haitian police officer Alex Mompremier from Haiti...

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New Jersey Division Susan A. Gibson and U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace announced two citizens of Lebanon, Mohamad Yassine and Hassan Rahman, will be arraigned today on money laundering charges for operating...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Today the U.S. Department of State and the DEA's Washington Division announced a reward of up to $5 million each for information leading to the arrest and conviction of three Honduran nationals indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia on charges stemming from their roles as leading...

EL PASO – A Mexican national was sentenced today to life in prison for his role in the Sinaloa Cartel’s narcotics distribution operations. According to court documents, Arturo Shows Urquidi, aka “Chous,” 50, of Juarez, was a former Chihuahua State police officer and a long-time member of the Sinaloa Cartel...