Latest news with #narco-terrorism
Fox News
2 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
US government taking ‘dramatically different approach' using terrorism charges against drug cartels: FBI alum
A former FBI assistant director says the federal government is taking a "dramatically different approach" to how it approaches drug trafficking after several Sinaloa cartel leaders were slapped with terror-related charges. Both Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, were charged with narco-terrorism, material support of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering on May 13 as members of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), a faction of the Sinaloa cartel. Five additional BLO leaders were charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. It's the first time that cartel members have been hit with terrorism-related charges, which Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, told Fox News Digital is intended to send a message. "This administration is taking a dramatically different approach to fighting drug cartels, who are the most powerful criminal organizations on the planet right now," Swecker said. "It is perfect for narco-traffickers because if you can go after anyone who supports these trafficking cartels and leaders and members in any way, if they give them a paperclip, if they provide financial support, if they work for them, they're a hit man." "It also gives us some extra territorial punch, if you will. It gives us the ability, if we want to, to dip into foreign countries," he said. Swecker, who has run numerous investigations involving drug cartels, said the Trump administration's decision to use terrorism charges expands the number of people who can be charged, and increases the potential penalties. "This is a serious approach by treating them as terrorists. It increases the penalties that they're exposed to. It ups the ante when it comes to extradition," Swecker said. "It ups the ante when it comes to the seriousness of the charges. They can use RICO, they can use continuing criminal enterprise, they can use now material support to terrorist organizations, so now, all you have to do is be affiliated in any way with a drug cartel, and we can lower a 20-year sentence on you." On Feb. 20, the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. Noriega allegedly worked closely with his son to "aggressively traffic" fentanyl into the United States, prosecutors said, adding that the two have led "one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world." The father and son trafficked "tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl" into the United States, according to federal prosecutors. Mexican law enforcement officials raided several locations in Sinaloa that are managed and controlled by the pair, seizing over 1.65 tons of fentanyl. Indictments are also pending against members of the BLO and Sinaloa cartel, which include Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Ismael Zambada Sicairos and Jose Gil Caro Quintero. All individuals, including Noriega and Coronel, remain at-large. Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, sent a message to the cartel leaders during a press conference announcing the charges. "Let me be direct: To the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, you are no longer the hunters. You are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends. You will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California," Gordon said.
Al Arabiya
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
US indicts Mexican citizen on terrorism charges for helping cartel
A Mexican citizen will face charges related to providing material support to a terrorist organization for the first time for allegedly conspiring to traffic guns, grenades, drugs and migrants for a drug cartel, US prosecutors said Friday. The cartel was recently designated a foreign terrorist organization. An indictment alleging the crimes by Maria Del Rosario Navarro Sanchez, a 39-year-old Mexican, was unsealed Friday in the Western district of Texas. It was not immediately clear if Navarro Sanchez had a lawyer. It came just days after an indictment was unsealed in San Diego against two alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders on narco-terrorism charges. Navarro Sanchez was arrested by Mexican authorities on May 4, according to a statement from the US Attorney General's Office. Among the things found with her was a golden AR-15-style assault rifle. Prosecutors said Navarro Sanchez was assisting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful and violent organized crime groups. She is alleged to have conspired to give the cartel grenades, buy guns for them, smuggle cash across the border and move drugs. Two men were also charged in the indictment, though not with providing material support to a terrorist organization. In February, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was among eight Latin American criminal groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations the administration of US President Donald Trump. He had called for the move in an executive order signed in January. The 'foreign terrorist organization' label is unusual because it deploys a terrorist designation normally reserved for groups like al-Qaeda or ISIS that use violence for political ends — not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels. The Trump administration argues that the international connections and operations of the groups — including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and violent pushes to extend their territory — warrant the designation. The Jalisco cartel was one of six Mexican organized crime groups to receive the designation. 'The arrest of Maria del Rosario Navarro Sanchez should send a clear message to people who wish to align themselves with terrorist groups that they will be sought out and held to the highest extent of the law,' FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement. Trump has made clear he wants to throw everything possible at Mexico's cartels for flooding the US with fentanyl.
Associated Press
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
The US indicts a Mexican citizen on terrorism charges for helping cartel
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican citizen will face charges related to providing material support to a terrorist organization for the first time for allegedly conspiring to traffic guns, grenades, drugs and migrants for a drug cartel, U.S. prosecutors said Friday. The cartel was recently designated a foreign terrorist organization. An indictment alleging the crimes by Maria Del Rosario Navarro Sanchez, a 39-year-old Mexican, was unsealed Friday in the Western district of Texas. It was not immediately clear if Navarro Sanchez had a lawyer. It came just days after an indictment was unsealed in San Diego against two alleged Mexican drug cartel leaders on narco-terrorism charges. Navarro Sanchez was arrested by Mexican authorities on May 4, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney General's Office. Among the things found with her was a golden AR-15-style assault rifle. Prosecutors said Navarro Sanchez was assisting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful and violent organized crime groups. She is alleged to have conspired to give the cartel grenades, buy guns for them, smuggle cash across the border and move drugs. Two men were also charged in the indictment, though not with providing material support to a terrorist organization. In February, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel was among eight Latin American criminal groups designated as foreign terrorist organizations the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. He had called for the move in an executive order signed in January. The 'foreign terrorist organization' label is unusual because it deploys a terrorist designation normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group that use violence for political ends — not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels. The Trump administration argues that the international connections and operations of the groups — including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and violent pushes to extend their territory — warrant the designation. The Jalisco cartel was one of six Mexican organized crime groups to receive the designation. 'The arrest of Maria del Rosario Navarro Sanchez should send a clear message to people who wish to align themselves with terrorist groups that they will be sought out and held to the highest extent of the law,' FBI Director Kash Patel said in the statement. Trump has made clear he wants to throw everything possible at Mexico's cartels for flooding the U.S. with fentanyl. Mexico's new administration has shown a willingness to help, pursuing cartel operations and making arrests like that of Navarro Sanchez.
Fox News
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Sinaloa cartel leaders charged with narco-terrorism after authorities seize 1.65 tons of fentanyl
Two leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel were hit with narco-terrorism charges on Tuesday for their involvement in allegedly trafficking "massive" amounts of drugs into the United States, according to federal officials. Pedro Inzunza Noriega and his son, Pedro Inzunza Coronel, were both named in an unsealed federal indictment on Tuesday and charged with narco-terrorism, material support of terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering as members of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), which is a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel. Five other BLO leaders were charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. The charges come after the Trump administration designated the Sinaloa Cartel as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on Feb. 20. Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Noriega works closely with his son to both produce and "aggressively traffic" fentanyl into the United States. They allege that the two have led "one of the largest and most sophisticated fentanyl production networks in the world." Authorities said that the father and son have trafficked "tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl" into the United States. According to federal prosecutors, Tuesday's indictment is the first of its kind from the Department of Justice's newly formed Narco-Terrorism Unit. On Dec. 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement officials raised several locations in Sinaloa that are controlled and managed by the pair, seizing more than 1.65 tons of fentanyl. Indictments are also pending against members of the BLO and Sinaloa Cartel, which include Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, Oscar Manuel Gastelum Iribe, Pedro Inzunza Noriega, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman Salazar, Ismael Zambada Sicairos and Jose Gil Caro Quintero. All individuals, as well as Noriega and Coronel, remain at-large. Adam Gordon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California, had a message for members of the Sinaloa Cartel during a press conference on Tuesday. "Let me be direct: To the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel, you are no longer the hunters. You are the hunted. You will be betrayed by your friends. You will be hounded by your enemies, and you will ultimately find yourself and your face here in a courtroom in the Southern District of California," Gordon said.
New York Times
13-05-2025
- New York Times
Prosecutors Charge Sinaloa Cartel Operatives With Terrorism Crimes
Federal prosecutors in Southern California filed narco-terrorism charges Tuesday against two leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, accusing them of offering material support for terrorism in connection with their alleged efforts to smuggle large amounts of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States. The indictment filed in Federal District Court in San Diego was the first time that prosecutors had accused operatives of the Sinaloa cartel of terrorism crimes since the Trump administration designated the group a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year. The indictment charged a father and son — Pedro Inzunza Noriega, 62, and Pedro Inzunza Coronel, 33 — with violating terrorism statutes while running a drug business that reached from Mexico to Guatemala, Panama and Costa Rica. The two men were leaders of the Beltrán-Leyva faction of the cartel, prosecutors said, and were named in the indictment with five of their subordinates, who were not accused of terrorism offenses. The nine-page charging document did not include any details about how the men had engaged in the alleged narco-terrorism. It remains to be seen whether the case against them will reveal any evidence supporting the terrorism charges that go beyond the administration's decision to identify the Sinaloa cartel as a terrorist organization. Trump administration officials have also designated other criminal mafias as terrorist groups, including Mexican drug gangs like the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and more traditional street gangs like Tren de Aragua, which is based in Venezuela, and the Salvadoran group known as MS-13. Over the past several years, prosecutors claim, Mr. Inzunza Noriega and his son trafficked tens of thousands of kilograms of fentanyl into the United States. In December, they said, Mexican law enforcement officials raided multiple locations in Sinaloa that were controlled and managed by the men, discovering nearly 20 million doses of the drug in what was described as a record seizure. At the time, President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico said the operations were part of a long investigation and had resulted in 'the largest mass seizure of fentanyl pills ever made.' She added that the operation had seized more than a ton of fentanyl pills worth nearly $400 million. U.S. law enforcement officials have generally supported the idea of designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations — if only because it gives prosecutors the ability to charge cartel defendants under powerful federal statutes that often carry stiff penalties. But prosecutors have not yet had to defend such charges in court and may face pushback not only from defense lawyers, but also from judges overseeing such cases. Prosecutors have traditionally relied on drug conspiracy charges to go after cartel operatives. Last week, for example, Ovidio Guzmán López, one of four sons of the former Sinaloa cartel leader known as El Chapo, indicated in court papers that he planned to plead guilty in July to a sprawling charge known as a continuing criminal enterprise.
