Man sentenced to over 5 years for coordinating drug smuggling into Arizona

PHOENIX — A man was sentenced last week to over five years in prison for his role in coordinating drug smuggling into Arizona, authorities said.

Enrique Heriberto Nunez-Tiznado, 45, of Sonora, Mexico, was sentenced to 63 months in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

He pleaded guilty in December 2023 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

Smuggling operation unraveled: Coordination, transport and money laundering

Prosecutors said Nunez-Tiznado admitted to serving as a Mexico-based leader of a group that sent drugs to the United States through the mail.

He initially employed others to smuggle drugs through ports of entry. Nunez-Tiznado then orchestrated the transportation of those drugs from Tucson to multiple locations and attempted to launder the drug proceeds through a co-defendant’s bank account.

Nunez-Tiznado was apprehended in Colombia in February 2022 following an Interpol Red Notice, an international alert issued to law enforcement agencies to locate and arrest a wanted individual. He was extradited to the United States in April 2023.

The FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case, which is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces operation.

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