TUCSON, Ariz. – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona announced that collaboration between the United States and Mexico led to a significant enforcement operation dismantling a transnational drug trafficking organization along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Last week, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), executed an operation in Nogales, Sonora, arresting two individuals, including the organization’s leader, Heriberto Jacobo Perez, and another member, Jesus Bernardo Rodriguez. Mexican authorities also seized four vehicles, two properties, two firearms, cash, fentanyl pills, and other drugs.
Six U.S.-based operatives linked to the organization had been indicted earlier. On July 24, 2024, a federal grand jury charged Rafael Alonso Arriaga, Fernando Garcia-Ibarra, Socorro Rascon, Emmanuel Sotelo-Salazar, Jostan Nathanae Vega-Ochoa, and Rosa Elena Peralta-Marrufo with drug trafficking offenses. Sotelo-Salazar faced additional charges for possessing and distributing a foreign pill press. Garcia-Ibarra and Vega-Ochoa remain fugitives. Another member, Eva Angelina De La Torre, was arrested in November 2024 at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona, while attempting to smuggle fentanyl pills into the U.S.
“Dismantling transnational crime requires cross-border cooperation,” said U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino. “This is tremendous work by dedicated civil servants coordinating efforts with Mexican prosecutors to take down this organization on both sides of the border.”
This operation was part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) initiative. OCDETF uses a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach to dismantle high-level criminal organizations.
The DEA in Nogales led the investigation in the U.S., collaborating with Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Marshals Service, and Customs and Border Protection. DEA-Mexico City and FGR’s Agencia de Investigación Criminal provided critical support. The Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs and the Justice Department’s Office of Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training contributed funding and expertise.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tucson will prosecute the seven individuals charged. Additional information about the OCDETF Program is available at justice.gov/OCDETF.