A ruthless Guatemalan drug kingpin has finally met his match in the United States.
U.S. Attorney Damien M. Diggs announced the extradition of Juan Jose Morales Cifuentes, 33, also known as Pancho, a leader of the notorious Los Pochos drug trafficking organization (DTO) since 2019, to the Eastern District of Texas to face international cocaine trafficking charges.
Morales Cifuentes, a Guatemala-based cocaine distributor and transportation coordinator associated with the Sinaloa Cartel, has made a name for himself through his brutal tactics and violence, even executing former associates in furtherance of the Los Pochos DTO’s narcotics trafficking activities.
As a key player in the organization, Morales Cifuentes was responsible for supplying multiple high-level Guatemalan and Mexican drug traffickers, including Mexico-based cartel leaders, with vast quantities of cocaine totaling approximately 48,000 kilograms yearly. He would often store narcotics in the Guatemalan border towns of Tecun Uman and San Marcos, collecting taxes from Mexican traffickers who used this infrastructure.
The Los Pochos DTO would purchase approximately 4,000 kilograms of cocaine monthly, making them one of the most significant players in the international cocaine trade. Morales Cifuentes was extradited from Guatemala to the United States on May 16, 2024, after being charged with multiple crimes, including conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine, intending, knowing, and having reasonable cause to believe it would be unlawfully imported to the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes Wynne is prosecuting the case, which is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach.
The investigation was carried out by the North Texas Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) Strike Force Group Two, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s Dallas Division, the DEA’s Guatemala City Country Office, and several other agencies. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing the defendant’s arrest and extradition to the United States.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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