Homeland Security Task Force announces the indictment and arrests of 4 CJNG members for narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, and firearms trafficking offenses (DOJ)

Tampa, FL - United States Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe announces the unsealing of an indictment charging:

According to the indictment, Edgar Alejandro Lopez Velasco, Noe Diaz Jimenez, Leobardo Gaxiola Lopez, and Jose Miguel Alvarado Morales are all affiliated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a foreign terrorist organization and one of the most powerful and violent drug cartels in Mexico. Lopez Velasco was a representative of a high-level CJNG member; Diaz Jimenez was a fentanyl trafficker with a fentanyl lab in Mexico; Gaxiola Lopez was a broker of narcotics and weapons deals; and Alvarado Morales was a representative of another high-level CJNG member. In February 2026, Lopez Velasco and Diaz Jimenez negotiated the sale of machineguns and destructive devices from the Czech Republic to Mexico to commit acts of violence against rival cartels, civilians, police forces, and military personnel in Mexico. These weapons included different kinds of European machineguns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortar launchers, and accompanying ammunition and ordnance. In exchange for the weapons, the defendants paid in the form of fentanyl and methamphetamine imported into the United States for distribution. All four were arrested in the Czech Republic in June 2026. On June 12, 2026, Mexican authorities dismantled Diaz Jimenez's synthetic opioid lab in Zapopan, Jalisco, Mexico.

The indictment notifies the defendants that the United States is seeking an order of forfeiture for the proceeds of the charged criminal conduct.

Lopez Velasco and Alvarado Morales were extradited to the Middle District of Florida, had their initial appearances yesterday, and were detained.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Czech authorities, Mexico's Secretaria de Seguridad y Proteccion Ciudadana, and Mexico's Secretaria de Marina. INTERPOL and the Department of Justice's Office of International Affairs provided critical assistance in securing the apprehension and Friday's extradition of Lopez Velasco and Alvarado Morales. The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Baeza.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Region 20 (Tampa) comprises agents and officers from multiple law enforcement agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.