Overview

• The DEA operation recruited informant “Queen” in Ankara in June 2022 to breach the cartel’s inner circle.
• Court filings expose the cartel’s strategic shift from cocaine to methamphetamine, fentanyl and precursor chemicals for global supply.
• Agents staged dummy handovers, intercepted encrypted communications and used GPS tracking to trace multi-continental trafficking routes.
• Opinder Singh Sian was arrested in Nevada in June and disclosed plots to smuggle meth to Australia and funnel fentanyl precursors via Canada.
• Eight operatives were jailed this month for roles in the MV Matthew cocaine shipment as cartel leaders remain under US sanctions designed to freeze their assets.