The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized more than 14,000 pounds of drugs under an operation probing a drug trafficking organization based in Colombia, the agency said in a Nov. 6 statement.
Operation Iron Current was conducted by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Hattiesburg division, located in Mississippi, after the drug trafficking organization was suspected of distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine in the United States.
The report did not name the organization.
The operation intercepted and seized two go-fast vessels. These vessels contained roughly 7,054 pounds of marijuana and around 7,028 pounds of cocaine, with a combined estimated street value of more than $80.5 million, ICE said.
“Transnational criminal organizations exploit maritime routes to move dangerous drugs and profit from crime,” HSI New Orleans special agent in charge Matt Wright said in the statement.
HSI worked with international and domestic law enforcement partners, sharing information that supports maritime counternarcotics efforts.
Earlier this year, another drug trafficking organization was targeted by authorities and brought down in Mississippi, which led to the arrests of several offenders and the seizure of around 4,000 pills containing fentanyl and 25 pounds of meth, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced in an Aug. 6 statement. The defendants were sentenced to a total of 73 years in prison.
A total of 16,144 cases involving drug trafficking were reported to the United States Sentencing Commission in fiscal year 2025, according to the commission.
Meth accounted for 47 percent of drugs trafficked in these cases, followed by fentanyl and analogs, powder cocaine, and crack cocaine.
HSI Hattiesburg seizes over 6,000 kg of narcotics worth $80.5 million during Operation Iron Current. (Courtesy of ICE)
Concealed Drugs and Fentanyl Pills
The leader of a nationwide drug trafficking organization was convicted by a jury this week for narcotics trafficking and other charges, according to a Nov. 5 DEA statement.
The individual and other conspirators concealed drugs in guitar amplifiers and shipped the narcotics across the United States between at least January 2021 and December 2024 using a stolen FedEx account. They also transported drugs by concealing them beneath vehicles on tow trucks, DEA said.
The defendant “led a sophisticated, multi-state drug trafficking operation that flooded communities across the country with dangerous narcotics, including fentanyl and methamphetamine,” Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, said in the statement.
“This conviction is a testament to the strong partnerships and coordinated efforts of law enforcement to dismantle these criminal networks and hold those responsible accountable,” Graham said.
In a separate DEA investigation, a narcotics trafficker faces charges for smuggling over three million potentially fatal doses that were destined for local communities.
“This is the largest single seizure of fentanyl powder in DEA New Mexico’s history and a significant step towards saving American lives,” DEA El Paso Division special agent in charge Robert Castaneda said in a Nov. 3 agency statement.
Officers had executed a search at the suspect’s home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where large quantities of drugs were confiscated together with several firearms and bulk U.S. currency.
A total of roughly 96 pounds of fentanyl powder and 90,000 fake pills containing fentanyl were among the seized narcotics.
