Edition O'020

Drug News Roundup

Sunday, September 13, 2026 · 7 stories

Covering reporting published since the Sept 12 edition, roughly Sept 12-13, with a few incident dates running back to Sept 8-9 where South American and Nigerian reporting lagged. South America again got dedicated Spanish-language effort, turning up two distinct Colombian operations. Excluded after review: a recirculating 'DEA-led raid off Ecuador nets 3,284 kilos of cocaine' story that remains sourced only to an undated DEA social-media post with no named agencies, date or location; a widely-reported 'HMS Trent narco-submarine' cocaine seizure off the Dominican Republic that turned out to be a 2024 operation being recirculated, not new; Colombia's 'Operation Nexus' (46.8 tonnes, announced Sept 2) and 'Zeus Arcano III' (4.6 tonnes, announced Aug 31), both now too stale for this window; a Massachusetts fentanyl bust and an Indiana meth lab story that duplicate incidents already logged; and a Pakistani ANF university-area sweep and a Nigerian heroin-kingpin arrest, both about five days stale with nothing new to add. No genuinely new development surfaced on the SOUTHCOM boat-strike or refueling-vessel campaigns, the Los Tiguerones case, or Uruguay's Artigas airdrop case since the last edition, so the ongoing section is empty today.

1National / Federal (US)

Rockland, Massachusetts man indicted after a snack-bag mail-order opioid business is tied to a fatal overdose

Rockland, Massachusetts1 charged

A federal grand jury indicted 23-year-old Jaden Zion Andre of Rockland, Massachusetts, accusing him of running an online drug-trafficking operation that advertised synthetic opioids and controlled-substance analogues under names including "MontanaSnacksLLC" and "SnackSeason" on Telegram, Reddit and Proton Mail, then mailed the drugs hidden inside ordinary snack packaging from Massachusetts post offices to buyers nationwide. Prosecutors say one shipment caused the fatal overdose of a woman in Las Vegas in April 2025, and investigators are examining whether packages from the same operation are linked to additional overdose deaths in Florida, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Andre faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years and up to life in prison if convicted on the count tied to the Las Vegas death.

SourceDEA

Pixel-art scene: prison sentence handed down — prison sentence handed down

2Local US Arrests

San Luis Obispo County raid ties a restaurant and a barbershop to Nipomo 13 gang cocaine sales, 10 arrested

2.2 kg cocaineNipomo, California10 arrested

Sheriff's detectives, working with a regional gang task force and SWAT teams from Santa Maria and Santa Barbara County, served search warrants on September 10 and 11 at a restaurant in Arroyo Grande and a barbershop in Nipomo, California, accusing the businesses of fronting cocaine sales for the Nipomo 13 gang. The raids netted about 2.2 kilograms of cocaine, 25 firearms and more than $60,000 in cash; ten people were arrested, including one located as far away as Portland, Oregon, on charges spanning drug conspiracy, gang participation and selling drugs near a school.

SourceHoodline

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 2.2 kg cocaine — 2 × 1 kg ≈ 2.2 kg cocaine

Miami SWAT raid finds two elderly men, 73 and 89, running an armed cocaine den in Allapattah

141 g cocaineMiami, Florida2 arrested

Miami police SWAT officers and detectives raided a house on NW 19th Street in Allapattah on September 9, after an undercover officer had bought cocaine there in August, and arrested 73-year-old Magdaleno Medina and 89-year-old Cesar Valdes, both Cuban nationals. Officers seized about 141 grams of cocaine, nearly 1,300 grams of marijuana and a loaded .38-caliber revolver; both men face armed cocaine-trafficking and felon-in-possession charges and have been placed on immigration holds.

SourceHoodline

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 141 g cocaine — 141 g cocaine

3South America

Colombian army stops a tanker truck in Quindío hauling 653 kilos of cocaine disguised as a legitimate cargo run

653 kg cocaineLa Tebaida, Quindío, Colombia1 arrested

Troops from the Army's Combat Engineers Battalion No. 8, working with National Police, stopped a tanker truck at a checkpoint in the La Herradura sector of La Tebaida, Quindío, on September 12 and found roughly 653 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride hidden inside. The truck's manifest claimed a legitimate haul traveling from Palmira, Valle del Cauca, to Tocancipá near Bogotá; the driver was arrested and authorities valued the seized drugs at more than 2.5 billion pesos.

SourceEl Nuevo Siglo

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 653 kg cocaine — 7 × 100 kg ≈ 653 kg cocaine

Colombian police dismantle a Nariño cocaine 'megalab' capable of three tonnes a month, seize 859 kilos of finished product

859 kg cocaineLa Tola, Nariño, Colombia

Colombia's anti-narcotics police, working with the Navy, raided a clandestine cocaine-production complex in La Tola, Nariño, around September 8, seizing about 859 kilograms of finished cocaine along with more than 2,800 gallons of liquid precursor chemicals and 570 kilograms of solid processing inputs. Officials said the site had the capacity to produce up to three tonnes of cocaine a month for smuggling toward the Ecuadorian border and described the find as one of the year's biggest blows to production infrastructure in the region.

SourceDiario La Libertad

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 859 kg cocaine — 9 × 100 kg ≈ 859 kg cocaine

4Rest of World

Nigerian Navy intercepts 71 kilos of cannabis smuggled by boat on the River Niger, three held

71 kg cannabisKogi State, Nigeria3 arrested

Naval personnel aboard NNS Lugard, acting on intelligence about drugs moving through Kogi State's inland waterways, intercepted a wooden commercial boat near Chintako Community Jetty in Bassa on September 8 and found about 71 kilograms of suspected cannabis hidden in a rear compartment. Three suspects were arrested and handed over, along with the drugs, to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency's Kogi State command on September 9 for further investigation into the consignment's source.

SourceChannels Television

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 71 kg cannabis — 3 × 25 kg ≈ 71 kg cannabis

Manila-area buy-bust snares a shabu dealer who used a 13-year-old boy as a drug courier

250 g methamphetaminePasay City, Philippines1 arrested

Philippine police ran an undercover buy-bust in Pasay City on September 11 and arrested a suspect known as "Munti," 42, after he sold about 250 grams of suspected shabu worth roughly 1.7 million pesos to an undercover officer. Police said the operation also freed a 13-year-old boy the suspect had been using to ferry drugs; the boy was turned over to social welfare authorities.

SourceManila Bulletin

Pixel-art scene of the seized items: 250 g methamphetamine — 250 g meth

5Ongoing Stories with New Developments

Nothing significant in the past 24 hours.

2026 Running Tally

Total weight intercepted across every story covered so far this year, through Sep 13, 2026. Counts seizures only — sentencings and indictments are not double-counted — and resets to zero each 1 January. Earlier years are kept below.

101 t 20 editions · 48 places · 13 substances

United States

Puerto Rico1 substance3.3 t

cocaine3.3 t

Texas3 substances1.6 t

methamphetamine1.3 t
cocaine228 kg
cannabis1.8 kg

Illinois1 substance532 kg

khat532 kg

New York3 substances284 kg

cocaine277 kg
fentanyl7.5 kg
fentanyl/heroin250 g

Indiana1 substance126 kg

cocaine126 kg

Pennsylvania1 substance113 kg

cannabis113 kg

Florida4 substances37 kg

cannabis20 kg
cocaine9.7 kg
fentanyl5 kg
methamphetamine2.8 kg

Minnesota2 substances28 kg

methamphetamine27 kg
cocaine883 g

Kentucky2 substances20 kg

methamphetamine20 kg
fentanyl60 g

Mississippi5 substances17 kg

cannabis9.5 kg
methamphetamine4.8 kg
cocaine3 kg
mdma140 g
fentanyl25 g

South Carolina2 substances7.9 kg

fentanyl4.1 kg
methamphetamine3.8 kg

Missouri2 substances6 kg

cocaine3.5 kg
fentanyl2.5 kg

North Dakota2 substances5.6 kg

methamphetamine5.4 kg
cocaine155 g

West Virginia3 substances4.8 kg

methamphetamine3.6 kg
fentanyl909 g
cocaine233 g

Tennessee3 substances4.7 kg

fentanyl2.2 kg
methamphetamine2 kg
cocaine500 g

Alabama3 substances3.3 kg

methamphetamine2.3 kg
cocaine1 kg
fentanyl21 g

California2 substances2.9 kg

cocaine2.2 kg
methamphetamine680 g

Nebraska2 substances2.4 kg

methamphetamine2.4 kg
cocaine17 g

Massachusetts2 substances2 kg

fentanyl1.7 kg
cocaine316 g

Ohio1 substance2 kg

cocaine2 kg

International

Mexico4 substances19.1 t

methamphetamine17.2 t
cannabis1.8 t
fentanyl9.1 kg
heroin7.7 kg

Spain2 substances14.6 t

hashish11.3 t
cocaine3.4 t

Brazil3 substances13.9 t

cannabis11.5 t
cocaine2.4 t
hashish40 kg

Ecuador2 substances10.7 t

cocaine9.8 t
cannabis900 kg

Colombia3 substances10.6 t

cocaine8.3 t
cannabis1.6 t
coca base684 kg

Nigeria3 substances7.0 t

cannabis7.0 t
methamphetamine2 kg
cocaine350 g

Portugal1 substance5.3 t

hashish5.3 t

France1 substance3.9 t

cocaine3.9 t

Indonesia1 substance2.6 t

methamphetamine2.6 t

Romania3 substances1.6 t

hashish1.3 t
cannabis228 kg
cocaine114 kg

Venezuela1 substance905 kg

cannabis905 kg

Argentina2 substances828 kg

cannabis507 kg
cocaine321 kg

Peru2 substances614 kg

cocaine364 kg
coca base250 kg

Pakistan4 substances479 kg

hashish301 kg
heroin173 kg
opium2.4 kg
methamphetamine2 kg

Sri Lanka1 substance463 kg

methamphetamine463 kg

Uruguay2 substances408 kg

cocaine305 kg
coca base103 kg

Bolivia1 substance405 kg

cocaine405 kg

South Africa1 substance336 kg

cocaine336 kg

Chile2 substances310 kg

cannabis302 kg
cocaine7.2 kg

Thailand1 substance166 kg

methamphetamine166 kg

India5 substances146 kg

methamphetamine65 kg
cannabis45 kg
amphetamine17 kg
mdma14 kg
heroin5.3 kg

Hong Kong2 substances141 kg

cocaine76 kg
ketamine65 kg

Afghanistan1 substance101 kg

opium101 kg

Malaysia3 substances98 kg

methamphetamine86 kg
mdma11 kg
ketamine630 g

Ireland2 substances26 kg

cocaine22 kg
cannabis4 kg

Italy1 substance17 kg

methamphetamine17 kg

Canada5 substances13 kg

mdma6.9 kg
fentanyl3.1 kg
methamphetamine2.2 kg
cocaine481 g
cannabis479 g

Philippines1 substance3.9 kg

methamphetamine3.9 kg