United States Drug Enforcement Administration

SAN DIEGO - Physician Naga Raja Thota, a pain specialist with an office in El Cajon, pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday, admitting that he fraudulently and illegally wrote prescriptions for hundreds of oxycodone and hydrocodone tablets for patients with no medical necessity, one of whom was a sex partner...

SAN DIEGO - Roberto Ponce-Rocha was extradited from Colombia on November 17, 2016, where he had been arrested for charges arising out of his leadership role in a drug trafficking conspiracy involving the transportation of large-scale quantities of cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine into the United States. As part of the...

SAN DIEGO - The final tally is in from the 12th National Prescription Take-Back Day which took place Saturday, October 22, and DEA and its partners took back nearly 8,000 pounds of prescription drugs at 39 locations in San Diego County and four in Imperial County. Over the course of...

SAN DIEGO - America is presently experiencing an epidemic of addiction, overdose and death due to abuse of prescription drugs, particularly opioid painkillers. 6.4 million Americans age 12 and over-2.4 percent of the population-abuse prescription drugs, according to the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health released last month...

SAN DIEGO - Physician Naga Raja Thota, a pain specialist with an office in El Cajon, was arrested this morning and charged with distributing oxycodone and other highly addictive drugs without any legitimate medical purpose in exchange for sex acts. The doctor was taken into custody by San Diego Drug...

SAN DIEGO & IMPERIAL, Calif. - The final tally is in from the 11th National Prescription Take-Back Day this past Saturday, April 30, 2016. DEA and its partners took back prescription drugs at 43 locations in San Diego County and three locations in Imperial County. Over the course of four...

SAN DIEGO - Federal officials have seized what is believed to be the longest cross-border tunnel ever discovered with an estimated length of more than eight football fields, plus more than a ton of cocaine was confiscated, making it the single-largest cocaine seizure ever associated with a tunnel along the...

SAN DIEGO - A suspected smuggler’s recent attempt to bring hundreds of counterfeit oxycodone pills through the Otay Mesa Port of Entry has raised serious concerns among law enforcement officials here because the pills turned out to be ultra-deadly fentanyl. In Sacramento, California, there have been dozens of overdoses and...

CALEXICO, Calif. - Federal officials seized a cross-border tunnel this morning following a lengthy multiagency investigation that resulted in the arrests of four people in Calexico, California and Arizona and the confiscation of more than a ton of marijuana. The tunnel, approximately 415 yards in length, stretches from El Sarape...

SAN DIEGO - On January 7, 2016, Hugo Adalberto Adrian Ramirez pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl in connection with a family drug trafficking ring that he directed. According to admissions in court and in his plea agreement, Ramirez conspired with family members, including his...