Bondi Announces Biggest Fentanyl Seizure Ever as Cartel Kingpin Captured
In a landmark victory against drug trafficking, the Justice Department under President Donald Trump has conducted the largest multi-state drug operation in American history.
It has successfully seized 3 million fentanyl pills from a major Sinaloa Cartel network operating across the western United States, per Attorney General Pam Bondi.
Bondi announced the historic bust on Tuesday during a press conference at the Justice Department building, highlighting the operation’s unprecedented success across four western states where the criminal enterprise had established a dangerous foothold.
The operation targeted and arrested Alberto Salazar Amaya, identified as a key Sinaloa Cartel leader who had been operating from Salem, Oregon.
Authorities revealed that Amaya’s extensive drug trafficking network strategically extended throughout New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, creating a web of distribution channels that had been flooding communities with deadly narcotics.
“This multi-agency operation – led by DEA with our local, state, tribal and federal partners – targeted one of the largest and most dangerous drug trafficking and foreign terrorist organizations in our country,” Bondi declared during the announcement, emphasizing the collaborative effort required to dismantle such a sophisticated criminal operation.
The seizure represents an unprecedented haul in America’s ongoing battle against deadly narcotics, with quantities that underscore the severity of the fentanyl crisis facing American communities.
“The DEA seized 11.5 kilos of fentanyl, including an astounding approximately 3 million fentanyl pills – the largest seizure in our nation’s history,” Bondi explained to assembled reporters.
The attorney general did not mince words about the significance of the operation, calling it “the most significant victory in our nation’s fight against fentanyl and drug trafficking to date.”
Present during the announcement were agents and prosecutors from the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, who worked tirelessly and collaboratively to bring down the cartel operation that had evaded capture for an extended period.
Visual aids displayed prominently at the press conference included posters showing images of the seized drugs and the traffickers who were arrested during the operation, providing tangible evidence of the bust’s magnitude to the assembled media.
“They have made the largest fentanyl bust in our nation’s history,” Bondi emphasized while praising the various agencies involved in the successful operation, acknowledging the dangerous work required to infiltrate and dismantle such a well-organized criminal network.
In a concerning revelation that connects the drug crisis to border security issues, officials confirmed that Amaya and six of his accomplices were in the United States illegally at the time of their arrests in connection with the drug trafficking organization.
The record-breaking bust comes as part of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on illegal immigration and drug trafficking, with particular focus on criminal organizations operating within American borders despite lacking legal status to be in the country.
The president’s immigration policies have evolved to include more targeted measures against criminal elements, now including the deportation of certain gang members and migrant criminals who are in the country illegally directly to El Salvador’s notorious prison system.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration demonstrated this approach by sending hundreds of members from dangerous transnational gangs, including Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center.
The specialized prison facility utilized in these deportations was constructed in 2022 as part of El Salvador’s intensified efforts to combat rising gang activity within its borders, creating an international partnership that addresses both countries’ security concerns.
WATCH:
.@AGPamBondi announces the takedown of a massive drug and weapons trafficking organization in New Mexico, operated by the Sinaloa cartel — resulting in the largest fentanyl seizure in our nation's history and the arrests of six high-level cartel members illegally in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/6qdSd0bsCu
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 6, 2025
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