Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville, Florida – Hilario Sifuentes-Cordero (42, Mexico) has been charged by federal indictment with illegal reentry into the United States by a previously deported alien. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and subsequent removal from the United States. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
The United States Attorney’s Offices for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia announced today that West Virginia United Health System, Inc., doing business as West Virginia University Health System (WVUHS), has agreed to pay $4,177,139 and enter a Memorandum of Agreement to resolve civil allegations that it violated multiple provisions of the Controlled Substances Act across various registered facilities over a seven-year span.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Tampa, Florida – Nathaniel McAlpine (48, St. Petersburg) has been sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian Miller to 11 years in federal prison for attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexual activity. McAlpine was found guilty by a jury on September 24, 2025. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Jacksonville, Florida – Gaspar Mateo-Morales (41, Guatemala) has been charged by federal indictment with illegal reentry into the United States by a previously deported alien. If convicted, Mateo-Morales faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and subsequent removal from the United States. U.S. Attorney Gregory W. Kehoe made the announcement.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
Baltimore, Maryland – The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced, today, that a Maryland man faces indictment in connection with domestic terrorism charges. Daniel Amos, 51, of Aberdeen, is charged with three counts of repeatedly making harassing telephone calls and one count of influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a federal official.
Source: United States Department of War
The Department of War’s Economic Defense Unit, in partnership with the Office of the Undersecretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, announced a $25 million investment with ReElement Technologies Corp. to expand domestic refining capacity for rare earth elements and other defense-critical minerals.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
St. Thomas, USVI – U.S. Attorney Adam F. Sleeper announced today that James King, Masaca Creque, Dwayne Blash, and Harry Davis were sentenced this week for their roles in bringing a large amount of marijuana to St. Thomas in their checked suitcases through the Cyril E. King airport.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BOSTON – Six former Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) employees and one current MBTA employee were charged today in a Superseding Indictment for multiple conspiracies, including allegedly conspiring to falsify Red Line track inspection reports as well as to commit overtime fraud.
Source: United States Department of Justice
Damian Barnett, 22, a felon residing in the District who was previously convicted of two attempted carjackings, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 28 months in prison for illegally possessing a loaded unholstered pistol in a residential neighborhood, announced U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro.
Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
A complaint was unsealed today charging Abdul Zahir Qadeer, also known as “Haji Abdul Zahir,” a former general in Afghanistan’s Border Force and First Deputy Speaker of Afghanistan’s National Assembly’s House of the People, with conspiring to import heroin and methamphetamine and related firearms offenses. Qadeer is expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan today following his arrest in Nairobi, Kenya, on April 15, 2025, and extradition to the United States on July 10, 2026.
“While purporting to be a political leader of Afghanistan, Abdul Zahir Qadeer was allegedly leading a criminal enterprise dealing in dangerous and addictive narcotics and heavy weapons,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “The Drug Enforcement Administration led an investigation that ended Qadeer’s audacious criminal activity, and now he will face justice in the United States.”
“Abdul Zahir Qadeer, a former high-ranking Afghan government official, allegedly also held a dual role as a large-scale international narcotics and military-grade weapons trafficker,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “In an attempt to traffic massive amounts of poison and weaponry — including heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers — Qadeer allegedly sold a two-kilogram test shipment to a buyer, which was delivered in South Africa. Unbeknownst to Qadeer, that buyer was working with the DEA. The scale of potential devastation Qadeer was attempting to bring to the U.S. is terrifying. This brazen effort underscores the need for the commitment and expertise of our career prosecutors and DEA partners.”
“”The world is safer now that Abdul Zahir Qadeer is facing justice in the United States. As a former General for Afghanistan’s Border Force, Qadeer was entrusted to protect his country’s borders — instead, he exploited his position to facilitate drug and weapons trafficking that fueled violence and instability,” said Administrator Terrance C. Cole of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “Make no mistake; we will use the full weight of the United States government to bring such individuals to justice. No matter where you are, no matter how powerful you think you are — you are not out of our reach.”
According to the allegations contained in the complaint and other public filings: Qadeer is a former member of Afghanistan’s National Assembly, which functioned as the legislature of Afghanistan until the Taliban regained control of the country in or about August 2021, and he was elected First Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly’s House of the People in or about 2012. Qadeer previously served as a general in Afghanistan’s Border Force, a paramilitary police organization responsible for securing Afghanistan’s border, commanding its Eighth Border Battalion in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. Qadeer is pictured below, dressed in blue, toward the left of the image:
Photo of Qadeer (in blue and on the left) with the Eighth Border Battalion. From the complaint.
Qadeer was also, until his arrest, a large-scale international narcotics and weapons trafficker. As alleged in the complaint, Qadeer engaged in extensive negotiations with an individual who purported to be a member of an international drug trafficking organization (the “DTO”) but, unbeknownst to Qadeer, was in fact a confidential source (CS-1) working at the direction of the DEA.
In or about November 2024, CS-1 began communicating with Qadeer about their potential partnership in trafficking hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine for importation into and sale in the United States for the purported DTO. As an early step in their partnership, on or about Dec. 10, 2024, Qadeer sold a two-kilogram test shipment of methamphetamine delivered to CS-1’s associate in Johannesburg, South Africa, in exchange for approximately $14,000.
Photo of two-kilogram test shipment of methamphetamine allegedly sold by Qadeer. From the complaint.
Screenshot of message thread between Qadeer and CS-1. From the complaint.
Thereafter, Qadeer continued to negotiate with CS-1 regarding the sale to the DTO of hundreds of kilograms of heroin and methamphetamine, along with hundreds of heavy machine guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, pistols, and grenades, which CS-1 represented would be used by the DTO to protect its drug trafficking activities from interdiction by the United States government. Pictured below is a purported weapons order from CS-1 that Qadeer agreed to fulfill:
Screenshot of a purported weapons order that Qadeer allegedly agreed to fulfill. From the complaint.
Upon receiving the weapons order, Qadeer provided CS-1 with quotes of how much he would charge to source each weapon, including, for example, $11,579 for one sniper rifle, $9,670 for one type of machine gun, and $1,770 for 10 grenades in one box.
In or about April 2025, Qadeer attended a meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, with several individuals who he believed to be members of the DTO he would supply with narcotics and weapons. In reality, it was a meeting between Qadeer and multiple DEA confidential sources. Kenyan law enforcement officers arrested Qadeer immediately following the meeting.
Qadeer has been charged with narcotics importation conspiracy, which carries a minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison; using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narcotics-importation conspiracy, which carries a minimum penalty of 30 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison; and conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during, and possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narcotics-importation conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The statutory maximum and mandatory minimum penalties in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.
DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit investigated the case. The FBI’s Tactical Aviation Unit assisted with Qadeer’s extradition to the United States from Kenya. The Office of International Affairs of the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division and Kenya’s Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and Directorate of Criminal Investigations also provided assistance.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan L. Bodansky and Chelsea L. Scism for the Southern District of New York are prosecuting the case.
The charges contained in a complaint are merely accusations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.