SAN ANTONIO - A former major drug trafficker in the Piedras Negras “Plaza,” 46-year-old Esiquiel (aka “Cheke”), was sentenced in San Antonio today to 420 months in federal prison for federal drug and firearm violations announced DEA Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Acting United States Attorney Richard Durbin...

DEL RIO, Texas - In Del Rio yesterday, 45-year old Texas Mexican (TMM) member Jesus Meza, Jr. (aka “Jesse”) was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for violating federal racketeering and drug trafficking statutes announced Acting United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Federal...

LAREDO, Texas - A total of five Laredoans have been ordered to prison for their roles in a kidnaping ordered by Los Zetas and executed by members and associates of the gang Hermanos Pistoleros (HPL), announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S...

WASHINGTON - The National Heroin Threat Assessment (NHTA), released today by the United States Drug Enforcement (DEA), shows heroin use and availability on the rise and causing more overdose deaths than at any time in the last decade. Although fewer people presently use heroin than other illicit drugs, the heroin...

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Four people have been charged for their involvement in a drug and money laundering conspiracy, three of whom have also been designated as Specially Designated Narcotics (SDNTs), announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and United States Attorney Kenneth Magidson. The...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) today has designated Mexican narcotics trafficker Abel Briones Ruiz as a Specially Designated Narcotics (SDNT) pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation (“Kingpin Act”) for providing support for the international narcotics trafficking activities of the Gulf Cartel...

McALLEN, Texas - A federal grand jury has returned a two-count indictment against a Rio Grande City Police Department investigator and a second defendant in a conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney...

WACO, Texas - The owner of the Cove Smoke Shack in Copperas Cove, TX, faces up to 20 years in federal prison after admitting to selling synthetic marijuana announced Acting United States Attorney Richard L. Durbin, Jr., Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Houston...

WASHINGTON - DEA Special Agent Joseph Piersante today became the first-ever member of DEA to receive the Secretary of Defense Medal for the Defense of Freedom - . Piersante was struck by enemy gun fire while on a counter-terrorism and narcotics mission in Afghanistan in 2011. The Defense of Freedom...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Two men have been ordered to federal prison following their roles in a large-scale drug-trafficking conspiracy, announced Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Joseph M. Arabit, Houston Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson. Guillermo Herrera, 55, and Hector Alberto Burton aka Hector Alberto Camacho, 41...