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New Mexico opens criminal probe of DEA after agents allowed fentanyl shipments to hit streets

State leaders seek a criminal investigation after an Associated Press report said the DEA allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into New Mexico.

  • New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller demanded accountability after an Associated Press investigation revealed the DEA intentionally allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into New Mexico to build larger cases against distributors.
  • Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alex Uballez oversaw these tactics from May 2022 through February 2023, defending the policy's intent by citing CDC data showing a drop in drug overdoses during his tenure.
  • Condemning the strategy, Keller stated, "It is disgusting that they were using Albuquerque as collateral damage in just a high-level theory on fentanyl," reflecting intense local political pushback against the operation.
  • Lujan Grisham is calling on the state Department of Justice to investigate the federal agents involved; the Department stated it is evaluating next steps regarding the state's request.
  • As the state probe proceeds, debates continue over the jurisdictional divide between federal and local law enforcement; community advocate Jones emphasized that federal agents target high-consequence distributors while local agencies must address street-level drug dealers.
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New Mexico's attorney general opened a criminal investigation on Friday to determine whether DEA agents violated state law by allowing hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets of Albuquerque.The extraordinary investigation takes place less than a week after The Associated Press reported that DEA agents often watched—but did not seize—the synthetic opioid's shipments in an attempt to arm larger criminal charges between 2023 an…

·Mexico
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New Mexico opens criminal probe of DEA after agents allowed fentanyl shipments to hit streets

New Mexico's attorney general has opened a criminal investigation into claims that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills to reach the streets.

·New York, United States
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Los Alamos Reporter broke the news on Friday, June 26, 2026.
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