United States Drug Enforcement Administration

LOS ANGELES - Capping a nearly three-year investigation, federal, state and local law enforcement authorities this morning took into custody a total of 21 members and associates of Mara Salvatrucha, a transnational criminal street gang commonly called MS-13 that was formed in Los Angeles about 30 years ago. Those arrested...

LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and more than 4,200 of its law enforcement and community partners collected more unused prescription drugs than at any of the 12 previous National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events. On Saturday, April 29, the event brought in 900,386 (450 tons) at...

LOS ANGELES - Two men were arrested Tuesday at Los Angeles International Airport and charged in federal court with attempting to smuggle heroin in luggage on two commercial airline flights. Cristian Santos, 21, of Compton, California was arrested by special agents with the Drug Enforcement (DEA) after boarding a Delta...

LOS ANGELES - Addictive prescription drugs that are thrown away or left untended on shelves and in drawers at home are often stolen and either abused or sold by family members and visitors. That’s why the DEA and thousands of its state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners...

LOS ANGELES - As part of a DEA investigation stemming from a multi-kilogram narcotics seizure at Los Angeles International Airport last month, two men have been named in a federal criminal complaint that alleges they were key operatives in a drug trafficking organization that shipped cocaine and heroin from Los...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Two Ecuadoran brothers were indicted in the Western District of Washington for ten felony counts related to distribution of heroin and laundering the proceeds of their drug sales. Fredy Ramon Gutama-Gutama, 25, and Fabian Martin Gutama-Gutama, 20, both of Lynnwood, Washington, were observed by law enforcement between...

SEATTLE, Wash. - Enrique Aguiliar Valencia, the leader of a drug trafficking organization, who admits his connection to the Los Zetas drug cartel was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 12 years in prison. Valencia, 55, who resided in Fremont, California, led a drug distribution ring that...

LOS ANGELES - Rite Aid Corporation has paid $834,200 in civil penalties to the United States to settle claims stemming from alleged violations of the Controlled Substances (CSA). The settlement is part of an agreement reached last week to resolve allegations that certain Rite Aid pharmacies in Los Angeles dispensed...

RIVERSIDE, Calif - Two men who were allegedly operating a “honey oil” lab in Cherry Valley when it exploded and severely burned one of them now face federal charges of operating an illegal drug manufacturing facility. Hector Gallegos, 34, of San Jacinto, surrendered to authorities yesterday and made his initial...

LOS ANGELES - A 28-year-old woman arrested early this morning at Los Angeles International Airport has been charged with trying to smuggle at least a kilogram of cocaine to her hometown of Detroit. Kennsha Mason, 28, was arrested by special agents with the Drug Enforcement Administration after boarding a Spirit...