United States Drug Enforcement Administration

WASHINGTON - DEA and other federal officials today announced the arrest of Kassim Tajideen, a prominent financial supporter of the Hizballah terror organization. Tajideen is charged with evading U.S. sanctions imposed on him because of his financial support of Hizballah. Tajideen, 62, of Beirut, Lebanon, was arrested overseas on March...

EL PASO, Texas - Emmanuel Velasco Gurrola, 30, was sentenced to life in federal prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot. The sentencing was announced by Drug Enforcement (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Will R. Glaspy, United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Homeland Security (HSI) Special Agent in...

WASHINGTON - A senior paramilitary leader and one of Colombia’s most notorious drug traffickers was sentenced on Friday to serve 198 months in prison for his role leading an international drug trafficking conspiracy responsible for the importation of ton-quantities of cocaine into the United States. DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg...

LAS CRUCES, N.M - Jessie Jesus Marquez, 37, of Las Cruces, New Mexico, was sentenced last week in federal court to 121 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on narcotics trafficking charges. The sentence was announced by Special Agent in Charge Will R...

WASHINGTON D.C. - China’s National Narcotics Control Commission announced this week that scheduling controls against four fentanyl-class substances - carfentanil, furanyl fentanyl, valeryl fentanyl, and acryl fentanyl - will begin on March 1, 2017. This announcement is the culmination of ongoing collaboration between the Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the Government...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M - During a hearing yesterday, a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico found probable cause to support a criminal complaint charging Michael Gerard Smith, 55, of Albuquerque, with violating the federal narcotics and firearms laws. Today, the Magistrate Judge entered an order holding Smith in federal custody...

WASHINGTON - DEA and the Southern District of New York today announced the arrival of four individuals from Kenya to New York charged with participating in a massive global drug trafficking enterprise, and includes the leader of a well-known organized crime family in Africa. BAKTASH AKASHA ABDALLA, a/k/a “Baktash Akasha,”...

MONGOMERY, Ala. - Dr. Robert M. Ritchea, 54, of LaGrange, Georgia, pled guilty to conspiring to unlawfully distribute a controlled substance through operating a “pill mill” and money laundering scheme, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Bret Hamilton and United States Attorney George L. Beck, Jr. A “pill mill”...

EL PASO, Texas - An El Paso man faces between ten years and life in federal prison after a federal jury convicted him on multiple drug trafficking charges announced El Paso’s Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge, Will R. Glaspy, and United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr. Following...

WASHINGTON - Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates today announced that Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, known by various aliases including “El Chapo,” will face charges filed in Brooklyn, New York, following his extradition to the United States from Mexico, alleging that he was operating a continuing criminal enterprise and other...