A senior member of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel who was extradited from Mexico to Atlanta earlier this month pleaded not guilty on Friday to cocaine trafficking charges, the Department of Justice announced.
Roberto Najera Gutierrez, also known as "Kunfu Panda" and "La Gallina" (Spanish for "the hen"), pleaded not guilty in the Northern District of Georgia to a federal charge of conspiring to manufacture and distribute cocaine that he knew would be imported into the U.S., the DOJ said in a news release.
"Thanks to President Trump's leadership and our brave DEA agents, the cartels are no longer free to import poison into our communities," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in the release.
She commended the Office of International Affairs for facilitating the extradition of what DOJ called an "alleged narco-terrorist."
Theodore Hertzberg, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, said Najera Gutierrez was a senior figure in the cartel, responsible for coordinating the movement of large shipments of cocaine from South America through Mexico and into U.S. cities including Atlanta, Chicago, New York, and parts of Florida and California.
Prosecutors alleged he led and coordinated the transportation of multi-kilograms of cocaine by boat from Colombia and Ecuador to Honduras and Guatemala.
Once the drugs were in Central America, they were smuggled across the Guatemalan border into Mexico.
Najera Gutierrez allegedly distributed that cocaine to other high-level drug traffickers in Mexico. who imported the cocaine into the U.S. He also allegedly coordinated the collection and transfer of drug proceeds through bank accounts.
The Sinaloa Cartel, which operates transnationally, was designated a foreign terrorist organization and specially designated global terrorist on Feb. 20 by the Trump administration, underscoring it as a major threat to national security and public safety.
The indictment stemmed from a long-running Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that began in 2013 targeting cartel networks trafficking cocaine into the U.S., the DOJ said.
Najera Gutierrez now faces decades in prison if convicted; he remains in federal custody as his case proceeds.
"This indictment is part of a multi-agency collaboration dedicated to dismantling transnational criminal organizations responsible for drug trafficking and violence," said Jae Chung, special agent in charge of the DEA's Atlanta Division, highlighting cooperative efforts by the DEA, IRS Criminal Investigation, U.S. Marshals, and other federal partners.
The prosecution is part of Operation Take Back America, a DOJ initiative aimed at combating illegal immigration, cartel activity, and violent transnational crime, and reflects heightened federal focus on drug trafficking organizations that endanger U.S. communities.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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