EXCLUSIVE Smirking cartel suspect, 30, arrested with her father in $4.5M fentanyl sting after flying in from California to seal deadly deal in Florida

Daily Mail​

25-06-2025

Smirking in defiance, a woman 'member' of Mexico 's fearsome Jalisco cartel poses for her mugshot after being seized in swoops in Florida that have netted 64lbs of fentanyl.
Suspected drug courier Alejandrina Diaz, 30, was arrested with seven other members of both the Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels who allegedly trafficked the killer drug into the US and across the country.
All eight were seized in Florida's Polk County, Georgia and Arizona after six complex undercover sting operations in which detectives learned of shipments from unwitting members and played along before setting their traps.
Three other women 'cartel members' were among those arrested in the dramatic $4.5million busts, announced Tuesday by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
'Our detectives and our agents from the federal, the state and the local level potentially saved the lives of 14.5million people,' he said at his office in Winter Haven.
'We will continue to go after these criminals to reduced the flow of these deadly drugs into the United States and Florida.
'They came across the border in Mexico and ultimately to us.'
The war on fentanyl has been a central plank of President Trump's issues with Mexico along with immigration at the southern border – and his calculations for tariffs.
A total of 160,000 fentanyl pills and 13 kilograms (26.8lbs) of the powered form of the drug were seized.
Investigations resulting in the Sinaloa bust began in July, 2024 when the sheriff's office's High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task force discovered counterfeit fentanyl pills disguised as blue Oxycodone in its area.
These had been trafficked from the Mexican state of Sonora, which borders Arizona, through to Phoenix and then on to Florida.
A plan was set and detectives were able to coordinate pill shipments to be sent to Polk County, the sheriff's office has revealed, without giving further details.
The supplier sent six loads of fentanyl pills – approximately 17 pounds – up to January, 2025. These were all seized.
Four months later undercover detectives met Regina Headspeth, 43, in a hotel parking lot in Lakeland, Florida. She allegedly sold them nine pounds of fentanyl pills for a part-payment of $55,000.
She was later pulled over in a traffic stop in Phoenix by Homeland Security Investigations officers and the money recovered. Headspeth was arrested on June 19.
In a separate Sinaloa sting on June 13, detectives arranged for Adrian Francisco Munguia, 24, to travel from Sonora to Florida to complete a fentanyl sale.
Munguia had already come on the sheriff's office radar for allegedly flying from Arizona to Florida to collect the outstanding payment on the Headspeth deal.
This time he allegedly took nine pounds of the killer drug from Daytona Beach to Polk County, where he was arrested by a joint team of sheriff's detectives, Homeland Security investigators, Florida Department of Law Enforcement and US Customs and Border Protection special agents.
The sting operations against six alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel began earlier this year.
Some of the drug was being transported in fake car batteries to avoid detection.
Investigations began after a narcotics dealer in the Mexican state of Michoacan told undercover cops about a stash house in Atlanta, Georgia, which was a hopping off point for drugs swamping the county.
In April this year, Adalberto Diaz, 51, flew from California to Tampa, Florida, and allegedly arranged to drive to Jonesboro, Georgia, to fetch one kilogram of fentanyl for undercover Polk County detectives.
Diaz told cops to contact him if they wanted him to transport of deliver any more drugs, the sheriff's office said. He then flew back to California.
The following week the same Mexican drug dealer contacted Polk County about an 11lb shipment hidden in a car battery and heading to Jonesboro.
Homeland Security Investigations special agents later saw a battery being exchanged and handed to Gerardo Valencia Cervantes.
He was arrested in a traffic stop and the drugs allegedly found. Two more kilograms of fentanyl were later seized from him.
In May, the same supplier offered to have 11lbs of fentanyl transported from Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican town directly opposite El Paso, Texas, to Polk County.
He arranged for it to be delivered by a courier and the payment to be collected by a different person.
Gloria Trujillo Duque, 44, is accused of turning up to facilitate the sale and collect the money.
Once she had payment, she allegedly contacted 46-year-old Miguel Estrada to take the fentanyl to a hotel.
Once there, Estrada is said to have brought the drugs inside a car battery, helped by his cousin, Maria Del Consuelo Alvarado Martinez, 40. All three were seized.
Days before, undercover cops had re-established contact with Adalberto Diaz.
They arranged for him to take approximately 4.4lbs of the 11lbs haul to south Florida for $5,000, the sheriff's office said.
His daughter Alejandrina allegedly flew in from California as part of the transaction. The pair were met by Polk County detectives and immediately arrested.
'Sinaloa' accused Manugui is charged with trafficking fentanyl, having drug, paraphernalia, conspiracy to traffic the drug and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
Headspeth is accused of fentanyl trafficking and maintaining a vehicle to traffic drugs.
'Jalisco' accused Duque, Alvarado Martinez, Estrada, Alejandrina Diaz and Valencia Cervantes are charged with trafficking fentanyl.