ST LOUIS– The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will recognize National Fentanyl Awareness Day, Wednesday, April 29, as a show of support for the agency’s valued partners in law enforcement, public health and non-profit agencies. Fentanyl-related deaths have decreased in the past several years, yet fentanyl remains the leading cause...

ST. LOUIS – Three St. Louis area residents have admitted selling fentanyl and other drugs via social media, including drugs that caused one fatal and one nonfatal overdose. Aeman Ali, 23, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Tuesday to aiding and abetting the maintaining of a drug-involved...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – An illegal alien who shot at Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agents attempting to arrest him during a fentanyl sale on Feb. 24, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for attempted murder. Eduardo Valenzuela Lopez, 33, of Cajeme, Sonora, Mexico, has been charged with Attempted...

PHOENIX, Ariz — DEA Special Agent in Charge Apolonio Ruiz Jr. joined Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and HIDTA Director Dawn Mertz to announce the results of a major multi-agency drug operation targeting criminal organizations operating in Arizona communities. “This extraordinary investigation saved countless lives,”...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Eduardo Valenzuela Lopez, 33, of Cajeme, Sonora, Mexico, and Jael Gonzalez Banuelos, 22, of Phoenix, Arizona, were arrested on the morning of Feb. 24, 2026, by members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) for conspiring to distribute fentanyl. Valenzuela Lopez and Gonzalez Banuelos were charged by criminal...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Dominik Israel Lopez, 24, of Mesa, Arizona, was sentenced on November 24, 2025, by United States District Judge Krissa Lanham to 108 months of prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Lopez pleaded guilty to Distribution of Fentanyl, with death resulting. In March 2020...

ST. LOUIS – A convicted felon who supplied the fentanyl that caused one fatal and two nonfatal overdoses in St. Louis in 2023 was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. On Dec. 2, 2023, Victor Mora approached three men who were at a gas station and offered to take...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Last week, Jose Ismael Castro Leon, 47, a Mexican national living in the United States illegally, was charged by federal criminal complaint in Phoenix, Arizona with Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine and Fentanyl. According to the complaint, investigators with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) East...

WASHINGTON — In a superseding indictment unsealed today, high-ranking members of the Sinaloa Cartel are facing federal charges for their alleged involvement in trafficking hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine into southern Illinois and laundering the proceeds to Mexico. “The Sinaloa Cartel relies on drug trafficking to finance...

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Jose Angel Gonzalez-Carrillo, 46, of Modesto, California, and Ethyel Aldahyr Ontiveros-Flores, 25, of Mazatlan, Mexico, were arrested on the evening of June 2, 2025, and charged by criminal complaint for conspiring to distribute over 36 kilograms of fentanyl pills, and over 9 kilograms of fentanyl powder. On...