Cartel Commander Charged with International Cocaine and Methamphetamine Trafficking Conspiracy and Firearm Offenses
Thursday, October 22, 2026 - A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment today charging Ivan Cazarin Molina, 42, a Mexican national, with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for importation into the United States and possessing a firearm in furtherance of the drug trafficking offense.
According to court documents, Cazarin Molina, also known as “Tanque,” was a regional commander for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) in Veracruz, Mexico. On Feb. 20, 2025, the U.S. Secretary of State designated the CJNG as a foreign terrorist organization.
“Today’s indictment of Ivan Cazarin Molina, a regional leader of the CJNG, sends a clear message that the Department of Justice will find all leaders and commanders of drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations and prosecute them for their destruction of our communities through drug trafficking and violence,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s charges demonstrate the Justice Department’s commitment toward the total elimination of drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations. Thanks to the hard work of our DEA partners and the Criminal Division prosecutors, these cartel leaders will be exposed and their organizations dismantled.”
“For two decades, Ivan Cazarin Molina allegedly helped fuel CJNG’s trafficking operations using intimidation and violence to protect its criminal enterprise,” said Administrator Terrance Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “The era of impunity for cartel leaders is over. DEA, working though the homeland security task force and alongside our international partners, will fight narco-terrorists wherever they operate – following every lead, severing every supply line, dismantling every organization, and bringing those responsible to justice.”
Cazarin Molina is charged with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute five kilograms or more of cocaine and 500 grams or more of methamphetamine for importation into the United States from 2005 through 2025, and using, carrying, brandishing, and discharging a firearm, in relation to the drug trafficking conspiracy. If convicted, Cazarin Molina faces a minimum penalty of 40 years in prison and a maximum penalty of two consecutive life prison terms. Cazarin Molina was arrested on Oct. 5 by Mexican law enforcement authorities in Jalisco, Mexico.
The DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit Los Angeles is investigating the case.
Chief Kaitlin Sahni of the Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit (NDDU) and Trial Attorneys Maryann McGuire, Lernik Begian, and Douglas Meisel of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) are prosecuting the case.
MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.
MNF’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.
This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Source: Justice.gov
