United States authorities have dealt what Attorney General Pam Bondi called “a significant blow against the Sinaloa Cartel,” seizing a “record-breaking” quantity of fentanyl and arresting 16 people, including an alleged criminal leader from Mexico, in a “record-shattering” operation across five U.S. states.
Bondi and other U.S. officials, including the acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Robert Murphy, announced the “largest fentanyl bust in DEA history” on Tuesday, the result of a six-month-long investigation. More than 400 kilograms of the powerful synthetic opioid were seized, including 396 kilograms of fentanyl pills (2.7 million pills) in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Among the 16 people arrested during the multi-agency DEA-led operation carried out in New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Arizona and Nevada was Heriberto Salazar Amaya, a Mexican national and alleged leader of a drug trafficking organization affiliated with the Sinaloa Cartel. Bondi told a press conference on Tuesday that he was detained in Salem, Oregon.
Ryan Ellison, United States Attorney for the District of New Mexico, said that Salazar, 36, is an “illegal alien from Mexico with two prior removals and direct ties to the Mexican cartel.”
However, “court documents, including a motion by prosecutors to detain Salazar Amaya before trial, do not allege a connection to the [Sinaloa] cartel,” Reuters reported.
Bondi said that the “historic drug seizure, led by the DEA, is a significant blow against the Sinaloa Cartel that removes poison from our streets and protects American citizens from the scourge of fentanyl.”
She also said that the drug seizure and arrests “marks the most significant victory in our nation’s fight against fentanyl and drug trafficking to date.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum acknowledged the fentanyl seizure in the United States at her Wednesday morning press conference, calling it “very significant.”
“They link it to a criminal group from Mexico but it essentially also has to do with United States nationals on the other side of the border,” she said.
Ten of the 16 people arrested in connection with the record-breaking fentanyl bust in what the DEA called a “record-shattering operation” are U.S. citizens.
United States President Donald Trump has made stopping the entry of fentanyl to the U.S. from Mexico a key priority for his administration. In early March, he briefly imposed 25% tariffs on all imports from Mexico as he sought to pressure the Mexican government to do more to stop the northward flow of the opioid, the main driver of an overdose crisis in the United States in recent years. Tariffs on non-USMCA compliant Mexican goods remain in effect.
In February, Trump’s threat to impose blanket tariffs on imports from Mexico led Sheinbaum to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops to the northern border region.
‘One of the largest and most dangerous fentanyl organizations in US history’
In a statement, the DEA noted that cash, firearms and vehicles were also seized in the operation that resulted in the arrests of 16 people and confiscation of “record-breaking quantities of fentanyl,” a drug made by cartels in Mexico with precursor chemicals smuggled into the country from Asia, predominantly China.
The DEA said that the operation dismantled “one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking organizations in U.S. history.”
#ICYMI our office now holds the DEA record for the largest fentanyl pill seizure.https://t.co/ik4jMzIpqK pic.twitter.com/0YmhESftg0
— DEAABQ (@DEAAbq) May 6, 2025
The drug seizures and arrests occurred in late April when the DEA executed search warrants at addresses in five U.S. states.
- In Albuquerque, DEA agents seized 396 kilograms of fentanyl pills, 11.5 kilograms of fentanyl powder, smaller quantities of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine, 49 firearms, approximately US $610,000 in cash and two vehicles.
- DEA agents also raided addresses in Salem, Oregon, and Layton, Utah, where a total of $3.58 million in U.S. cash, jewelry valued at approximately $50,000 and vehicles were seized.
- Properties in Phoenix, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, were also raided. Close to $500,000 in cash was seized as well as narcotics, including 13 kilograms of fentanyl pills in Phoenix. The DEA said that an “illegal alien” was “apprehended and removed” in Las Vegas, but didn’t state the person’s nationality.
All told, 420.5 kilograms of fentanyl (including more than 3 million pills), with a street value of over $80 million, was seized.
“Behind the three million fentanyl pills we seized are destructive criminal acts thwarted, and American lives saved. This wasn’t just a bust — it was a battlefield victory against a terrorist-backed network pumping death into our cities,” said Murphy, the acting DEA administrator.
His “terrorist-backed network” remark refers to the United States’ recent designation of the Sinaloa Cartel and five other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
Bondi does not support deportation of suspects to Mexico
The 16 people detained in connection with the massive drug bust face charges that include conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and firearms offenses. Two women, U.S. citizens Kaitlin Young and Roberta Herrera, were among those arrested.
Fourteen of the 16 defendants were charged together in federal court in New Mexico.
In addition to a fentanyl-related charge, Salazar Amaya “faces three additional immigration-related charges: illegal reentry after deportation, hiring an unauthorized alien, and conspiracy to harbor unauthorized aliens,” the DEA said.
Bondi said that Salazar was one of six suspects arrested who was living in the United States illegally, but didn’t reveal their nationalities. Asked whether any of the defendants would be deported to Mexico, the attorney general said she wanted them “to stay in our prisons as long as possible.”
“… Sending them back to Mexico to continue on with their drug business isn’t going to happen under this administration,” Bondi said.
With reports from CBS News, Reuters, López-Dóriga Digital, Reforma and El Universal
