PRESS RELEASE

West Texas Methamphetamine Distributors Given Lengthy Prison Sentences

… to plea documents filed in the case: on May 5, 2017 New Mexico State Police stopped a vehicle being driven by … pounds of suspected methamphetamine near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Agents with Homeland Security (HSI) were able to … Security (HSI), Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office, and New Mexico State Police conducted the investigation.  Assistant …
PRESS RELEASE

Zeta Leader "Talivan" Pleads Guilty

… Velasquez-Caballero, 44, of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, has been in custody in the United States since he … of cocaine and 1000 kilograms or more of marijuana from Mexico into the United States.  Millions of dollars in drug … from the United States to Velasquez-Caballero and others in Mexico. U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez, accepted the …
PRESS RELEASE

Federal Jury Convicts Mexican Citizen Living In San Antonio For His Role In Kidnapping Scheme

… Luis Martin Cavazos Cantu was kidnapped from his Monterrey, Mexico residence by several men. While Cantu was in the custody of his abductors in Mexico, Deleon Garza placed several phone calls from Bexar … Drug Enforcement (DEA) in San Antonio and in (Monterrey and Mexico City) in cooperation with the State of Nuevo León …
PRESS RELEASE

Major Mexican Heroin Trafficking Organization Targeted

… Torres Drug Trafficking Organization smuggles heroin from Mexico into the United States for distribution in cities … importing, and distributing heroin from Sinaloa, Mexico to the United States for well over two decades, as … as moving laundered drug proceeds from the United States to Mexico. Ruelas Torres and his criminal organization …
PRESS RELEASE

Former Texan Gets Hammered With 30-Year Prison Sentence

… ordered to federal prison for trafficking narcotics from Mexico through Brownsville to Florida, announced DEA Special … The jury also heard that Sosa had familial connections in Mexico who assisted him in crossing the narcotics from Mexico to Brownsville.  He will remain in custody pending …
PRESS RELEASE

Former Mexican Mayor Gets 21 Years In Prison For Drug Trafficking

… (DEA) today announced that former Fronteras, Sonora, Mexico Mayor Arturo Reyes Trujillo was sentenced to over 21 … was elected municipal (mayor) in Fronteras, Sonora, Mexico in 2012, and was arrested in September of that year. … instrumental in the case. Additionally, the Government of Mexico cooperated with Trujillo’s  extradition to the United …
PRESS RELEASE

Kern County Poly Drug Traffickers Found Guilty

… brought multi kilo quantities of meth, heroin, cocaine from Mexico FRESNO, Calif. - A federal grand jury returned an … methamphetamine.   Mario Alvarez-Muniz, 49, a citizen of Mexico, residing in Taft, and Darrell Leon Jennings, 49, of … driver, obtained heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine from Mexico for distribution here.  Jennings is a self-employed …
PRESS RELEASE

Men Arrested In Bakersfield Indicted For Cocaine Smuggling

… of Shafter, Jose Luis Montoya-Salazar, (Montoya), 42, of Mexico City, and Luis Ricardo Eslava-(Eslava), 42, of Sinaloa, Mexico, charging them with conspiring to import, distribute, … convicted, Eslava and Montoya are subject to deportation to Mexico after serving any prison sentence imposed. On …
PRESS RELEASE

Fourth Defendant Sentenced For Marijuana Cultivation Operation In Sequoia National Forest

… FRESNO, Calif. - David Arreola, 29, of Michoacán, Mexico, was sentenced today to seven and a half years in … 32; and Jose Luis García-Villa, 22, all of Michoacán, Mexico, conspired in the cultivation of approximately 8,876 … Arreola, like his co-defendants, faces potential removal to Mexico. This case is the product of an investigation by the …
PRESS RELEASE

Sinaloa Cartel-Connected Drug Distribution Ring That Used Semi-Trucks to Transport Huge Loads Disrupted With Multiple Arrests

… Miller. The drug traffickers transported narcotics from Mexico, via California, sometimes using a semi-truck to … Western District of Washington, but also the brothers in Mexico who profited by spreading their poisons and addiction … Banuelos 24. The men are based in the Sinaloa area of Mexico. Throughout 2023 and 2024, law enforcement used …
PRESS RELEASE

Mexican National Sentenced to 100 Months in Prison for Laundering $5.4 million

… repatriation of the proceeds, or their equivalent value, to Mexico as part of a money laundering conspiracy. According … proceeds generated in the United States to the cartel in Mexico. Martinez personally arranged for the laundering of … of drugs across our borders and the flow of money back to Mexico by cartel operatives and bring these individuals to …
PRESS RELEASE

DEA-led operation nets more than 600 arrests targeting Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion

… the fastest growing transnational criminal organizations in Mexico, and among the most prolific methamphetamine … the United States, and elevated levels of violence in Mexico. With methamphetamine abuse and overdose deaths on … and second in command of CJNG, was extradited from Mexico to the United States on charges of alleged drug …
PRESS RELEASE

DEA-led operation nets more than 600 arrests targeting the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación

… the fastest growing transnational criminal organizations in Mexico, and among the most prolific methamphetamine … the United States, and elevated levels of violence in Mexico. With methamphetamine abuse and overdose deaths on … and second in command of CJNG, was extradited from Mexico to the United States on charges of alleged drug …
PRESS RELEASE

DEA Releases 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment

… seized. Border restrictions between the United States and Mexico, brought on due to the pandemic, have increased the … of bulk currency from the United States across the SWB into Mexico. As a result, large amounts of U.S. currency are being held along the U.S. side, awaiting transport to Mexico. • California had the second greatest amount of …
PRESS RELEASE

Son of Sinaloa Cartel Member Sentenced to Federal Prison for Drug Trafficking

… manager for a drug trafficking organization out of Mexico that was responsible for distributing drugs in … of the Tri-Cities area, but now resides in Sinaloa, Mexico where he runs his drug trafficking organization.  … he is a U.S. Citizen and could travel freely to and from Mexico.  Judge Rice found that Zazueta is a leader and …
PRESS RELEASE

Norcross Cousins Sentenced for Operating Meth Lab

… all of whom had illegally entered the United States from Mexico, utilized a family home in Norcross less than 200 … green cellophane.  Roberto Arroyo-Garcia, 39, of Guerrero, Mexico, who was previously deported on two separate … he pleaded guilty.  Zury Brito-Arroyo, 28, of Guerrero, Mexico, was sentenced on February 25, 2020, to 21 years in …
PRESS RELEASE

Mexican National Sentenced to 18 Months for Transporting Heroin in 2019

… Judge Gregory A. Presnell sentenced Denisse Munoz-Mora (31, Mexico) to 18 months in federal prison for possession with … that she was paid $3,000 to enter the United States from Mexico, meet an individual in California, receive drugs from … issued, Munoz Mora was not found and apparently returned to Mexico. In 2020, on the eve of Cepeda-Chico’s trial, …
PRESS RELEASE

Sophisticated Sinaloa Cartel Money Laundering Organization Dismantled

… led by Enrique Daan Esparragoza Rosas of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. The indictment said Esparragoza’s organization used … then transferred the laundered funds to bank accounts in Mexico.  In total, dozens of bank accounts used by the … Las Vegas; and aircraft and aircraft engines for export to Mexico, among other things.  In the extortion plot, the …
PRESS RELEASE

Federal jury finds Albuquerque career offender guilty of distributing heroin that caused teen's overdose death

… Division X Account @DEAElPasoDiv Omar Arellano Domestic New Mexico, El Paso, Alpine, and Midland Texas Additional … Paso Division and U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson.   "New Mexico has been hit hard by the heroin and opioid epidemic … Anderson said, “Hundreds of people die each year in New Mexico from heroin and opioid overdoses. The U.S. Attorney’s …
PRESS RELEASE

Assassin for Mexican Cartel Sentenced to Life in Prison

… Division X Account @DEAElPasoDiv Omar Arellano Domestic New Mexico, El Paso, Alpine, and Midland Texas Additional … proceeds that were destined to be returned to the Cartel in Mexico. Agents and officers also seized hundreds of weapons … of rounds of ammunition intended to be smuggled into Mexico to assist the Cartel’s battle to take control of …
PRESS RELEASE

High-Ranking Member of Los Zetas Cartel Sentenced in Eastern District of Texas to a Term of Life Imprisonment

… poison into the United States or fuel violence back in Mexico.” “This lengthy sentence is the culmination of years … quantities of cocaine between Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, and Eagle Pass, Texas on behalf of the Los Zetas … was smuggled from the United States back to Chavarria in Mexico by secreting the cash in washers, dryers, …
PRESS RELEASE

Colombian Paramilitary Leader Sentenced To 33 Years In Prison For Drug Trafficking And Narco-Terrorism

… of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to Central America, Mexico and the United States using seaports and clandestine … - from Colombia, through Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. Mr. Jimenez-Naranjo’s sentence is a step forward in … and exported that cocaine from Colombia to Central America, Mexico and elsewhere, some of which was ultimately imported …
PRESS RELEASE

Operation Kruz Control Delivers Major Action Against Large Scale Marijuana Trafficking Organization

… from (primarily through the Agua Prieta corridor) into New Mexico and Arizona and the smuggling of bulk drug proceeds back into Mexico.  The Cruz DTO uses multiple load drivers and … into the United States and their illicit proceeds back to Mexico," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Doug Coleman. …
PRESS RELEASE

Wife of Sinaloa Cartel Kingpin Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison

… methamphetamine, and marijuana) from South America and Mexico, transported the drugs to multiple locations along the U.S.-Mexico border using commercial trucking companies, smuggled … drug trafficking activities back to the TCO’s leadership in Mexico. According to court records, throughout 2020, the …
PRESS RELEASE

Defendant Who Trafficked Drugs While Absconding From Federal Drug Trafficking Sentence Gets Additional Five Years in Prison

… Diversion Registration: Oregon 1-888-219-4261 Citizen of Mexico Arrested With 13 Kilos of Cocaine While on the Run … Prison Sentence for Drug Dealing Seattle –A citizen of Mexico who resided in Renton, Washington before being sent … a lengthy investigation of drug traffickers with ties to Mexico and Colombia. In June 2024 law enforcement teams from …
PRESS RELEASE

37 Alleged Members And Associates Of An International Ethnic-Albanian Organized Crime Syndicate ArrestedDefendants Charged With Trafficking Cocaine, Marijuana, MDMA And Prescription Drugs, And Laundering Tens Of Millions Of Dollars In Narcotics Proceeds

… of kilograms of hydroponic marijuana from Canada and Mexico, substantial quantities of MDMA from the Netherlands … and Canada, hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Peru, and large quantities … that most of the marijuana smuggled from Canada and Mexico was concealed in tractor trailers, typically in …
GENERAL INFORMATION

Headquarters News 2010

July 15, 2021
… 2010 Alleged Mexican Drug Cartel Leader Extradicted From Mexico to United States to Face Federal Drug-Trafficking Charges January 13, 2010 DEA: Mexico Marks another Success against Drug Cartels …
July 15, 2021
PRESS RELEASE

Guatemalan National Indicted on International Cocaine Trafficking and Maritime Smuggling Charges

… of Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and elsewhere.  “DEA and our law enforcement partners … Guard; HSI Attaché Guatemala City, Guatemala; HSI Attaché Mexico City Mexico; Department of Justice’s Office of International …
PRESS RELEASE

Local trafficker distributing methamphetamine in North San Diego County sentenced to 10 years

… period, he obtained bulk methamphetamine from a broker in Mexico and subsequently sold smaller quantities of … each month from his methamphetamine supplier in Mexico. “San Diego communities are being flooded by high quantities of low-cost methamphetamine made in Mexico,” said DEA Acting Special Agent in Charge Steve …
PRESS RELEASE

Drug Trafficking Mom Imprisoned for Smuggling Meth Across Border

… hearing, the court heard that Rios imported narcotics from Mexico on behalf of Dallas drug traffickers. In handing down … a drug deal.  In October 2021, Rios attempted entry from Mexico into the United States via the Hidalgo Port of Entry. … with several friends from Dallas to a hotel in Reynosa, Mexico. Rios then knowingly provided her vehicle to Mexican …