Arizona remains key drug trafficking corridor as DEA targets cartel networks and fentanyl shipments

For Tucson, Arizona’s role as a major drug trafficking corridor means the city can be both a stopping point and a destination for shipments of fentanyl and methamphetamine. Investigators say drugs entering through border communities such as Nogales, Douglas and San Luis may be routed through Tucson and Phoenix before continuing to cities across the country. Some shipments also remain in Arizona, making the trafficking network a local public health and public safety concern rather than only a border issue.

The Drug Enforcement Administration says it is focusing on the organizations moving those drugs, including the people who arrange transportation, receive shipments and distribute them. Apolonio “Polo” Ruiz, special agent in charge of the DEA’s Phoenix Field Division, said investigators use databases, surveillance and cooperation with other law enforcement agencies to identify members of trafficking networks. In one case, authorities followed a shipment from Nogales to Tucson and then to Detroit, Michigan. A controlled delivery helped investigators identify the people waiting to receive the drugs.

Arizona recorded nearly 18 million fentanyl pills seized during fiscal year 2026, according to Ruiz. The DEA counted 17.8 million pills from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026, compared with 19 million during the previous fiscal year. Ruiz said Arizona has recorded the country’s highest fentanyl pill seizures for five years. At the same time, investigators are finding more fentanyl in powder form, which can be transported to clandestine laboratories in the United States and pressed into counterfeit pills after arrival.

That change reflects how synthetic drugs have reshaped trafficking. Ruiz said methamphetamine and fentanyl are attractive to traffickers because they can be produced relatively cheaply and offer a powerful, long-lasting effect. The DEA’s 2025 National Drug Threat Assessment says Mexican cartels obtain precursor chemicals, mainly from China and India, and use clandestine laboratories in Mexico to manufacture fentanyl and methamphetamine. Pill presses allow fentanyl to be made into tablets that resemble legitimate medication, increasing the risk that people will take the drug without knowing what it contains.

The national assessment identifies the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel as the main organizations producing and moving the synthetic drugs driving overdose deaths in the United States. Those groups depend on relationships with U.S. trafficking organizations for distribution and sales, and on Chinese money laundering networks to move proceeds between the United States and Mexico. The DEA says the Sinaloa Cartel operates in the Sonora region, including factions associated with Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. From Arizona, trafficking routes can connect border communities with Tucson, Phoenix and distant U.S. markets.

The methods used to cross the border vary. Ruiz said traffickers may build concealed compartments into vehicles or throw packages over the border fence. The border is also a legitimate gateway for thousands of people and vehicles carrying commercial goods and produce each day, creating a high volume of movement through which investigators must identify illicit shipments. DEA investigators say their work includes locating network members before conducting surveillance and then building cases against the people coordinating transportation and distribution.

The scale of the threat extends beyond Arizona. The DEA assessment cites provisional federal health data showing that 84,076 people died from drug overdoses during the 12 month period ending in October 2024. That represented a 25 percent decline from the same period a year earlier, when 112,910 people died, and October 2024 marked the 11th consecutive month of declining overdose deaths. Even with that improvement, the assessment says fentanyl and other synthetic opioids caused more deaths than other drug categories. Counterfeit pills and fentanyl mixed into other drugs can be especially dangerous for people who believe they are taking something else.

Federal authorities have also intensified efforts against cartel leaders and related networks. On Feb. 27, 2025, the United States took custody of 29 defendants transferred from Mexico. The defendants face charges in U.S. districts involving drug trafficking, racketeering, murder, illegal firearms use, money laundering and other offenses. They included alleged leaders connected to the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Cartel del Noreste, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and the Gulf Cartel. The DEA described the transfer as the result of cooperation among the Justice Department, Mexican authorities and multiple U.S. agencies.

The case of Rafael Caro Quintero carried particular significance for the DEA because he was charged in the United States with the 1985 torture and murder of Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Caro Quintero was transferred to the United States in February 2025 along with the other defendants, ending four decades as one of the agency’s most wanted fugitives. Camarena’s death led to Operation Leyenda, which the DEA calls its largest homicide investigation, and later inspired the Red Ribbon Campaign, a drug prevention effort. In Arizona, Ruiz said the agency’s enforcement strategy is directed at traffickers and distributors, not people struggling with addiction. Seized trafficking proceeds may be shared with state and local agencies for equipment and community drug education.