The Sinaloa Cartel kingpin, Miguel Baez “Javi” Guevara, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for shipping heroin, meth, and cocaine to Alaska. Guevara had evaded the U.S. government for 10 years before being deported to the U.S. from Mexico in 2021. The Sinaloa Cartel, co-founded by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, recruited couriers in Alaska through fake social media personas and encrypted messaging platforms. Guevara instructed the couriers on smuggling drugs back to Alaska, where the drugs were distributed locally.
Alaska has become an attractive target for drug lords due to its remote location, allowing traffickers to triple or quadruple their prices and make larger profits. Multiple federal agencies have been working to disrupt the cartel’s distribution of fentanyl in the U.S. Three others in the case have been sentenced in Alaska, while four other suspects believed to be in Mexico remain at large.
Guevara targeted Alaskan women as couriers, paying for their transportation with prepaid debit cards and compensating them with cash, heroin, and meth. The enterprise used coded language, pseudonyms, and various methods to smuggle drugs into the state, causing devastating effects on local communities. Before sentencing, some individuals vouched for Guevara’s positive qualities, but U.S. attorneys presented evidence of his violent actions, including ordering a shooting in Mexico.
Despite completing rehab programs, Guevara was sentenced to 28 years in prison, running concurrently with his sentence in the Arizona case. Federal authorities have been working for years to disrupt the Sinaloa Cartel’s operations in the U.S., with key members like El Chapo serving prison sentences.
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