7 fentanyl traffickers indicted after US, Mexico law enforcement cooperation

PHOENIX — Cooperative work between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement led to the arrest of two individuals and the indictment of seven operators all involved in fentanyl trafficking, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

A drug trafficking leader, Heriberto Jacobo Perez, and member of the same group, Jesus Bernardo Rodriguez, were taken into Mexican custody last week.

The following six U.S.-based leaders were indicted in federal court on drug trafficking charges originating on July 24, 2024: Rafael Alonso Arriaga, Fernando Garcia-Ibarra, Socorro Rascon, Emmanuel Sotelo-Salazar, Jostan Nathanae Vega-Ochoa and Rosa Elena Peralta-Marrufo. However, Garcia-Ibarra and Vega-Ochoa have not apprehended yet.

Another tied to the operations, Eva Angelina De La Torre, was arrested on Nov. 19, 2024, for trying to transport fentanyl across the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona.

United States Attorney for Arizona Gary Restaino expressed just how important “cross-border cooperation” is in restoring safety to North America as a whole.

“This is simply tremendous work by career civil servants with the Department of Justice in coordinating efforts with Mexican prosecutors to take down this criminal organization on both sides of the border,” Restaino said in a press release.

In addition to securing the traffickers, Mexico’s Fiscalía General de la República was able to obtain four vehicles, two buildings, two sets of firearms, a batch of fentanyl pills and other illegal substances.

The seven drug leaders will be prosecuted in a Tucson court by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

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