NEW YORK — The Justice Department announced today the unsealing of charges against, and the arrests of, five Ecuadorian nationals who conspired to import vast quantities of cocaine into the United States for more than a decade. The defendants include a former member of Ecuador’s National Assembly, a former Ecuadorian...

Foreign Terrorist Organization Tren de Aragua (TdA) leaders Yohan José Romero, also known as “Yohan Petrica,” 48; Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, also known as “El Viejo,” 37; and Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, also known as “Juancho,” 44, were previously charged in a 2025 six-count second superseding indictment in the Southern...

Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, also known as “Churrón,” will be arraigned in federal court in Brooklyn this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Kuo on a superseding indictment charging him with international cocaine distribution conspiracy, international cocaine distribution, and use of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking. Bermúdez Cagua...

A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today charging Ivan Cazarin Molina, 42, a Mexican national, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States and possessing a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking offense. According to court documents, Cazarin...

Attorney General of the United States, Todd Blanche, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), Terrance C. Cole, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”), Markwayne Mullin, and Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Kash Patel...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Ugandan national Michael Katungi Mpweire, 45, made an initial appearance in federal court today on charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to possess firearms, including machineguns and destructive devices, in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a...

PLANO, Texas – Two Chinese nationals have been indicted and charged with federal drug trafficking violations as part of a Homeland Security Task Force investigation in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney Jay R. Combs. Lisa Xing, 36, and Zhanwen Song, 38, Chinese citizens, were charged in a...

Washington, D.C. - The leader of a Dominican Republic-based international cocaine trafficking and money laundering organization was extradited from Colombia to the United States yesterday to face drug trafficking charges filed in two separate indictments in the Districts of Puerto Rico and New Jersey as well as money laundering charges...

WASHINGTON – Ecuadorian authorities, supported by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), conducted a series of coordinated enforcement operations today targeting transnational criminal organizations involved in international cocaine trafficking. The Ecuadorian National Police conducted simultaneous operations at multiple locations across Ecuador following a years-long investigation. The...

Washington, D.C. - A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today charging Ramon Alvarez Ayala, 44, and Rafael Alvarez Ayala, 42, both Mexican nationals, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States and possessing a firearm, including a machinegun, in...