{"id":93675,"date":"2026-08-12T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/powerful-cartel-in-mexico-sought-to-buy-weapons-overseas-in-exchange-for-fentanyl-and-meth-u-s-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:00:09","slug":"powerful-cartel-in-mexico-sought-to-buy-weapons-overseas-in-exchange-for-fentanyl-and-meth-u-s-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/powerful-cartel-in-mexico-sought-to-buy-weapons-overseas-in-exchange-for-fentanyl-and-meth-u-s-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Powerful cartel in Mexico sought to buy weapons overseas in exchange for fentanyl and meth, U.S. says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p>The U.S. Justice Department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-mdfl\/media\/1457301\/dl?inline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">unsealed indictments<\/a> on Tuesday against four members of one of Mexico&#8217;s most powerful drug cartels accused of seeking to purchase arms and ammunition in exchange for drugs in the Czech Republic.<\/p>\n<p> The four alleged members of the <span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/us-sanctions-new-leader-jalisco-cartel-after-el-mencho-killed\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Jalisco New Generation cartel<\/a><\/span>, known by its Spanish acronym CJNG, were arrested in the Czech Republic in June, Justice Department officials said.<\/p>\n<p> Two of the defendants \u2014 Edgar Alejandro Lopez Velasco, 44, and Jose Miguel Alvarado Morales, 23 \u2014 have been extradited to the United States and made a court appearance in Tampa, Florida, on Monday, they said.<\/p>\n<p> Extradition is pending for the other two accused \u2014 Noe Diaz Jimenez, 33, and Leobardo Gaxiola Lopez, 63, also known as &#8220;Bado,&#8221; the officials said.<\/p>\n<p> The four alleged CJNG members are charged with drug importation conspiracy, firearms trafficking and other offenses which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.<\/p>\n<p> Lopez Velasco and Diaz Jimenez negotiated the sale of weapons in the Czech Republic &#8220;to commit acts of violence against rival cartels, civilians, police forces, and military personnel in Mexico,&#8221; the Justice Department said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-mdfl\/pr\/homeland-security-task-force-announces-indictment-and-arrests-four-cjng-members-narco\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;These weapons included different kinds of European machineguns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, mortar launchers, and accompanying ammunition and ordnance,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;In exchange for the weapons, the defendants paid in the form of fentanyl and methamphetamine imported into the United States for distribution,&#8221; it said.<\/p>\n<p> The United States last week announced charges against several high-ranking members of CJNG and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/us-reward-for-california-born-leader-jalisco-cartel-mexico\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">increased reward money<\/a> for the capture of its leaders to more than $100 million, including \u00a0$25 million for information leading to the capture of the cartel&#8217;s alleged leader, Juan Carlos Gonzalez, or &#8220;Pel\u00f3n.&#8221; According to the State Department, Gonzalez was born in Santa Ana, California, on Sept. 12, 1984.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/releases\/office-of-the-spokesperson\/2026\/08\/degrading-cjng-announcing-over-100-million-in-reward-offers-and-visa-restrictions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State Department said<\/a>\u00a0the charges and reward money were aimed at &#8220;crippling the organization&#8217;s leadership&#8221; while President Trump has ramped up pressure on Mexico and other Latin American nations to carry out his security agenda.<\/p>\n<p> CJNG is among eight Mexican cartels\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/designation-of-international-cartels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">designated<\/a>\u00a0as foreign terrorist organizations. The group was dealt a blow in February when leader\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/el-mencho-nemesio-ruben-oseguera-cervantes-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-history\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">Nemesio Rub\u00e9n Oseguera Cervantes<\/a>, or &#8220;El Mencho,&#8221; was killed by the Mexican military. The U.S. provided intelligence for the operation, which resulted in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/violence-mexico-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-killed-military-puerto-vallarta\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">burst in violence<\/a>\u00a0in the state of Jalisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last month, the Trump administration\u00a0<span class=\"link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/us-sanctions-new-leader-jalisco-cartel-after-el-mencho-killed\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">slapped sanctions<\/a><\/span>\u00a0on 50 people and companies linked with the cartel, including Gonz\u00e1lez. The sanctions froze assets and blocked U.S. financial transactions with those cited.<\/p>\n<p>In June, the U.S. Treasury announced a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/us-bank-alert-jalisco-new-generation-cartel-sanctions\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\">new bank alert<\/a>\u00a0targeting the cartel.\u00a0<\/p>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n<\/section>\n<p>  <!-- data-recirc-source=\"queryly\" --><\/p>\n<aside class=\"component list recirculation component--type-recirculation  \">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">More from CBS News<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"component__item-recirc-block\">\n<p><h3 class=\"component__title\">Go deeper with The Free Press<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<section class=\"content__body--footer\">\n      <!-- tags --><\/p>\n<section class=\"content__tags\">\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/jalisco-cartel-sought-to-buy-weapons-for-fentanyl-meth-us-says\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Justice Department unsealed indictments on Tuesday against four members of one of Mexico&#8217;s most powerful drug cartels accused<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":93676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[682,413,786],"class_list":["post-93675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-drug-cartels","tag-mexico","tag-united-states-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Powerful cartel in Mexico sought to buy weapons overseas in exchange for fentanyl and meth, U.S. says - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&amp;quot;In exchange for the weapons, the defendants paid in the form of fentanyl and methamphetamine imported into the United States for distribution,&amp;quot; the Justice Department said.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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