WASHINGTON — The Drug Enforcement Administration announced Monday that it seized more than a million counterfeit pills and over 77,000 kilograms of illicit drugs during a five-day operation targeting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most violent drug trafficking organizations in the world.
The cartel, known as CJNG, was designated as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year by the Trump administration. Federal officials said the group is responsible for flooding the U.S. with fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin, fueling addiction, overdoses and violence across the country.
“DEA is targeting the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as what it is — a terrorist organization — at every level, from its leadership to its distribution networks and everyone in between,” DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said in a statement. “Let this serve as a warning: DEA will not relent.”
From Sept. 22 through Sept. 26, agents across 23 domestic field divisions and seven foreign regions carried out coordinated enforcement actions. The operation resulted in 670 arrests and the seizure of:
- 92.4 kilograms of fentanyl powder
- 1,157,672 counterfeit pills
- 6,062 kilograms of methamphetamine
- 22,842 kilograms of cocaine
- 33 kilograms of heroin
Agents also confiscated $18.6 million in cash, nearly $29.7 million in assets and 244 firearms, according to the DEA.
CJNG operates in at least 40 countries with tens of thousands of members and associates. The cartel’s leader, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, remains one of the DEA’s most wanted fugitives. The State Department is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to his capture.
Federal officials said the surge is part of a broader whole-of-government strategy to dismantle transnational criminal organizations. DEA worked closely with the Homeland Security Task Force and other federal, state, local and tribal partners.
“This focused operation is only the beginning,” Cole said. “We will carry this fight forward together until this threat is defeated.”
