Omar Arellano
Special Agent in Charge Omar Arellano leads the El Paso Division, overseeing DEA operations in West Texas to include offices in El Paso, Midland and Alpine, as well as the entire state of New Mexico, with offices in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.
SAC Arellano began his DEA career in the El Paso Division back in 2003. For 22 years, he has served DEA in several roles, including Agent at the Mexico City Country Office, Resident Agent in Charge of the Ciudad Juarez Resident Office, Supervisory Agent at the Dallas Division, and Executive Assistant to the Director of the El Paso Intelligence Center. As a member of the Financial Investigations Section at DEA Headquarters, he developed expertise in directing and managing complex international money laundering investigations.
SAC Arellano also served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the Bogota, Colombia office. While serving as ASAC in Colombia, he was tasked to serve as Acting SAC for the Andean Division, which has oversight of DEA operations in Colombia and Ecuador.
Prior to becoming the El Paso Division SAC, he served as the Chief of Foreign Operations. In that role, he was DEA’s expert on foreign drug issues and operations around the world and oversaw DEA’s global drug enforcement efforts in 91 foreign offices located in 68 countries. Joint investigations initiated by SAC Arellano with host nation officials and other U.S. government agencies have resulted in the arrests of several leaders of Mexican and Colombian cartels.