LOS ANGELES - The leader of an international money laundering organization, Gurkaran Singh Isshpunani, made his initial appearance in the Central District of California today. Isshpunani, the highest level defendant listed in a 22-person federal indictment filed in November 2014, is allegedly the leader of an international ‘hawala’ ring that...

LOS ANGELES - Two brothers were arrested today on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges for allegedly utilizing a bogus pharmacy to obtain and distribute large quantities of prescription narcotics, including oxycodone, to black-market customers. Berry Kabov, 44, and his brother, Dalibor Kabov, 32, are charged in a 40-count...

LOS ANGELES - The 10th DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back event garnered an overwhelming community response as citizens came out in vast numbers to dispose of unused prescription medications. Area residents turned in more than 31,168 (14.1 tons) of medication as part of the National Drug Take-Back program, a nationwide...

LOS ANGELES - This Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time, come to one of the almost 5,000 collection sites around the nation to return all unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs for safe and anonymous disposal. This is the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA’s) 10th National Prescription Drug...

CHINO, Calif. - A two month gang related drug-trafficking investigation came to a successful conclusion afterofficers served four search warrants Wednesday, resulting in seven arrests. The investigation, known as “Operation Checkmate,” began in July of this year through the collaborative efforts of the Chino Police Department and the Drug Enforcement...

LOS ANGELES - A Baldwin Park man and former 18th Street gang member pleaded guilty to a federal drug trafficking offense and admitted he was the triggerman in the previously unsolved 2006 murder of a person who had failed to pay “taxes” to a member of the Mexican Mafia. Eddie...

LAS VEGAS - U.S. District Judge Larry R. Hicks sentenced a Reno man to 12½ years in prison and five years of supervised release following his arrest and conviction for possessing approximately one kilogram of pure methamphetamine in his vehicle. Francisco Fuentes Ibarra, 35, pleaded guilty in May to one...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - A Santa Barbara-area physician who wrote numerous prescriptions for powerful painkillers for “patients” - many of whom were drug addicts, and some of whom died from drug overdose - was convicted today of 79 federal drug trafficking charges. Julio Gabriel Diaz, 67, a Goleta resident who...

LOS ANGELES - One of the principal cocaine traffickers associated with an international narcotics ring was sentenced this morning to 20 years in federal prison. Zaid Wakil, 43, of Winston Salem, North Carolina, was sentenced by United States District Judge George H. Wu for his role in acquiring more than...

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. - United States District Judge Derrick K. Watson sentenced Serafine Magallon, 41, to 225 months imprisonment for conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. In sentencing Magallon, a San Jose, California resident, Judge Watson found that he held...