Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel US Operations Hit Hard by Feds
#SinaloaCrackdown2025
August, 2025 has been a bad month for Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel's US drug and human smuggling operations. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been targeting them all over the country for maximum effect, often resulting in the arrests of dozens of suspected Sinaloa Cartel operatives at a time.
And, to make sure the cartel gets the message that "the heat is on," the DEA is posting the results of their raids on social media using the hashtag #SinaloaCrackdown2025.
New Hampshire:
Among the most significant operations aimed at the Sinaloa Cartel acknowledged so far by the DEA was a three-month investigation into the cartel's network in Franklin, New Hampshire, that resulted in 27 arrests, multiple search warrants, and significant seizures over the course of 2 days this week:
Day 1 – August 26: DEA Agents, along with Franklin Police officers, executed three search warrants, arrested 17 individuals, and seized approximately $100,000 in cash, a firearm, and a quantity of illegal narcotics.
Day 2 – August 27: Enforcement actions continued with an additional 10 arrests and the clearing of a homeless encampment that had been involved in ongoing drug distribution.
“The Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico has a strong hold on drug distribution in New England, and this week’s enforcement action attacked their street-level distribution network." - Jarod Forget, DEA Special Agent in Charge, New England Field Division
Washington State:
While in the Pacific Northwest, the US Attorney in Seattle this week announced that agents had "dismantled a Sinaloa Cartel-connected drug trafficking ring distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin throughout western Washington. The drug traffickers transported narcotics from Mexico, via California, sometimes using a semi-truck to bring the drugs up the coast. Drug deals occurred as far north as Whidbey Island and Arlington and as far south as Tacoma and the Lacey area," a statement from the US Attorney's Office said."
“The work of the DEA and our partners seized hundreds of pounds of methamphetamine and fentanyl from this group that could have yielded a staggering 6.9 million lethal doses. This fentanyl could have killed everyone living in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area." - David F. Reames, Special Agent in Charge, DEA Seattle Field Division
More than a dozen people involved in this Sinaloa Cartel drug ring have been indicted, and arrests are ongoing. Some suspects are believed to be in Mexico. The US is working with authorities there to bring them to justice.
Los Angeles:
The DEA has not released many details of an operation in Los Angeles acknowledged today, except to announce the seizure of 26 kilos of Sinaloa Cartel Cocaine:
San Diego:
In another operation the DEA is being tight-lipped about, they report the seizure of 139 pounds of Sinaloa Cartel Methamphetamine in San Diego. They say the drugs were confiscated shortly after they entered the country from Mexico.
Dallas:
DEA Agents in Dallas seized two million dollars in Sinaloa Cartel Cash this week and arrested five people. Additional details of this operation have not been released.
Baton Rouge:
This last bust shocked even seasoned drug agents: On August 28, 2025, the DEA seized 70,000 lethal doses of Sinaloa Cartel Fentanyl near a Baton Rouge high school stadium, “enough to wipe out nearly all students at LSU, Southern, & Southeastern Universities,” the agency noted.
New York:
All this during a week that saw the co-founder and head of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael Mario Zambada-Garcia (also known as “El Mayo”), plead guilty to multiple felony counts in a New York courtroom on August 26, 2025.
“El Mayo,” who is 77 years old, will spend the rest of his life in a US prison.
How badly do you think the Sinaloa Cartel has been damaged by these actions this week?
Share your thoughts in the comments to this article.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
As a reader with a few friends in the state of Washington, I am grateful that the cartel plan to wipe out the population of Seattle and Tacoma like a neutron bomb was unsuccessful. As was their diabolical scheme to assassinate all the students at LSU and the other two universities.
Those "relatable" crime stats crack me up. Maybe they should try some less relatable ones. "We interdicted [more syllables = higher bonuses] enough fentanyl on one Sinaloa submarine to kill every Presbyterian in the Dallas metro area, plus half of Chick-Fil-A customers in the Twin Cities region, plus 10% of people who still subscribe to TV Guide because the internet is dangerous."
Too many of my fellow libertarians are still yammering about how the war on drugs always fails, but Trump has the right idea: Not only defunding cartels' war chests, but draining them so fast that they become risk-averse and resort to desperate measures; which of course will justify a more forceful intervention. I'm no warmonger, but enough is enough. I feel bad for the citizens of Mexico, as well as our own, who have to live in constant fear now that cartels act like the new de facto rule of law.
Same with Maduro and his captive citizens: Fentanyl weaponization against the US is combined with the urgency of elbowing out CCP-backed petroleum interests in the Stabroek oil field which Venezuela shares with Guyana. Let China suffer the consequences of their proxy warfare. They don't have the temerity to risk a hot conflict with us over Venezuela, I'd wager, with their house in such current disarray. I guess we'll find out soon enough. They backed down on the Panama Canal pretty quick, and their position is even more precarious now.