United States Drug Enforcement Administration

Washington, D.C. - Yesterday, a federal jury in Maryland convicted two El Salvadorian nationals for conspiring to participate in La Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal enterprise, commonly known as MS-13. Junior Noe Alvarado-Requeno, aka Insolente, aka Trankilo, 25, and Miguel Angel Corea Diaz, aka Reaper, 39, were convicted of multiple...

WASHINGTON – DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams announced yesterday the arrest of Malek Mohammad Balouchzehi, aka “Malek Khan,” for conspiring to import heroin into the United States and distributing heroin for importation into the United States. Balouchzehi, a...

DETROIT — An investigation out of the Drug Enforcement Administration Lansing Post of Duty has led to charges for 16 individuals for various drug distribution charges, Aug. 4. U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge announced 16 defendants were arrested and charged with drug-trafficking crimes arising out of the Lansing, Michigan area. Eight...

WASHINGTON – DEA Administrator Anne Milgram and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss today announced the extradition two Pakistani citizens, who will face charges for attempting to import large quantities of heroin into the United States. Maulabaksh Gorgeech and Niamatullah Gorgeech were taken into custody...

CINCINNATI – A federal grand jury has charged 36 individuals with crimes related to narcotics and money laundering conspiracies in an indictment that was unsealed today. Those charged include 22 local individuals. Law enforcement agents arrested all 36 defendants late last week and over the weekend. According to the indictment...

CLEVELAND -- Ten people were indicted for their roles in a conspiracy in which the leader allegedly controlled large shipments of fentanyl stamped into pills, heroin, cocaine and other drugs from Mexico to Cleveland while using a cellular phone smuggled into his prison cell. Named in the 17-count indictment filed...

NEW YORK – DEA Special Operations Division Special Agent in Charge Christopher T. Tersigni, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey S. Berman and United States Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt announced that Moazu Kromah, aka “Ayoub,” aka “Ayuba,” aka “Kampala Man;” Amara Cherif, aka...

CINCINNATI – A defendant was sentenced today in the first federally indicted carfentanil prosecution in the country. Phillip Watkins, 34, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in U.S. District Court today to 300 months in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin laced with carfentanil and attempting to murder a witness he believed...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – United States Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that Alex Alberto Castro received 42 years in prison for conspiring to distribute heroin and cocaine. A federal jury convicted Castro in October 2018. He was the lead defendant of a 20-plus defendant drug trial. Chief United States District...

NEW YORK - Christopher Tersigni, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration Special Operations Division and Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the extradition of Haji Abdul Satar Abdul Manaf, aka “Haji Abdul Sattar Barakzai,” for...