A 36-year-old man arrested last week in Salem faces drug trafficking charges in New Mexico, one of 16 people indicted in what federal prosecutors called one of the largest fentanyl drug rings they’ve identified.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents say Heriberto Salazar Amaya was the leader of the Mexican trafficking ring that brought millions of fentanyl pills and pounds of fentanyl power to Oregon, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona and Utah.
Court records include photos of tubs of fentanyl, dozens of firearms and boxes filled with bundles of cash seized in the investigation that began last year.
The DEA confiscated about 4.2 million fentanyl pills and 11.5 kilograms of fentanyl powder as well as 79 pounds of methamphetamine, 4.5 kilograms of heroin and 7.6 kilograms of cocaine, according to prosecutors.
Agents also confiscated $4.4 million in cash, 41 guns and seven vehicles, according to a detention memo filed in federal court in New Mexico.
Salazar Amaya, a Mexican national who lived in Salem, made his first appearance in federal court in Portland on April 28.
He was ordered to be transferred to New Mexico to face charges of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl, illegal reentry to the United States, unlawful employment and conspiracy to harbor people without legal authority to be in the country.
DEA agents said they seized these bundles of cash when arresting Heriberto Salzara Amaya in Salem, Oregon, on April 28, 2025. U.S. Attorney’s Office
DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said the case marked his agency’s “largest single seizure of fentanyl pills.”
“I remind the cartels that DEA is relentlessly in pursuit and will not stop until we destroy your networks,” he said in a statement.
Some Oregon Republican lawmakers noted the Oregon arrest and praised the bust.
“Oregon shouldn’t be a sanctuary for criminals who flood our communities with deadly drugs and violent crime,” House Republican Leader Christine Drazan of Canby said in a statement Tuesday.
Rep. Jeff Helfrich, R-Hood River, called the massive drug seizure a “a law enforcement victory,” but said he was disturbed that the alleged leader of the drug ring was living in Oregon.
“The fact that the Sinaloa cartel set up shop in Oregon, and from there trafficked enough deadly fentanyl to kill everyone in Portland isn’t an accident,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Oregon should immediately end our sanctuary state policies and work with federal law enforcement to deport these dangerous criminals and stop the flow of drugs over our border. Anything less is an endorsement of cartels operating with impunity within our borders, and acceptance of the thousands of drug-related fatalities that will follow.”
— Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian, on Bluesky @maxbernstein.bsky.social or on LinkedIn.