United States Drug Enforcement Administration

FRESNO, Calif. -  - Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii sentenced brothers Edwan Dablan, 37, and Khamal Dablan, 25, both of Kingsburg, Calif., today to 10.5 years in prison and four years and nine months in prison, respectively, for participating in a long-term methamphetamine trafficking conspiracy based in the Kingsburg and Selma areas, Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Special Agent in Charge Bruce C. Balzano and United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Edwan Dablan’s sentence includes additional time for the charge of money laundering.

According to court records, Edwan Dablan was the leader of an extensive drug trafficking network, and both the Dablan brothers supplied methamphetamine to street dealers in Fresno County.

Judge Ishii ordered the forfeiture of a significant portion of assets derived from the Dablans’ drug trafficking activities:

• Three properties in Fresno and Alexandria, La.
• $240,000, representing the equity in three additional properties in Kingsburg, Fresno, and Alexandria, Louisiana
• $75,553.00 in proceeds from the interlocutory sale of nine seized vehicles
• 16 firearms, including an Uzi submachine gun
• 3 silencers
• $7,562 in cash

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen A. Escobar handled the criminal prosecution, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Mardel Jones handled the forfeiture proceedings.

This case was the product of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task (OCDETF) wiretap investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service, and Fresno Methamphetamine Task (FMTF), a High Intensity Drug Trafficking (HIDTA) initiative, which consists of law enforcement agents from the DEA, Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, Fresno Police Department, California Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, the FBI, and CHP. The OCDETF program was established in 1982 to mount a comprehensive attack against organized drug traffickers. Today, the OCDETF program is the centerpiece of the United States Attorney General's drug strategy to reduce the availability of drugs by disrupting and dismantling major drug trafficking organizations and money laundering organizations and related criminal enterprises.