FBI Houston had a busy year in 2025, starting off the first day of the year by investigating the New Orleans terror attack, enduring the longest federal government shutdown while protecting the community along with the Texas Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n
In total, FBI Houston announced more than 800 arrests, helped secure over 110 convictions, and worked investigations leading to more than 230 indictments. <\/p>\n
Its Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force identified, located, or rescued more than 200 child victims and arrested over 286 child predators and human traffickers. <\/p>\n
Alongside law enforcement partners, FBI Houston seized over 600 kilos of narcotics, including cocaine, fentanyl, and meth. <\/p>\n
Its immigration enforcement operations resulted in the detention of more than 430 foreign nationals illegally residing in Texas, including 12 subjects of FBI cases.<\/p>\n
Here are a few of FBI Houston\u2019s investigative highlights from 2025:<\/p>\n
Violent Crime<\/p>\n
Disrupting transnational criminal organizations<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Houston dismantled and disrupted leadership and command structures of transnational gangs and narco-terrorist organizations in coordination with the Houston Police Department, Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office, and other Texas law enforcement partners.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Three FBI Houston subjects are currently featured on the FBI\u2019s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list:<\/p>\n Yulan Archaga Carias, head of MS-13 in Honduras<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Wilver Villegas-Palomino, leader of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Giovanni Mosquera Serrano, senior leader of Tren de Aragua (TdA)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Task forces and fugitive operations<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Houston co-founded the city\u2019s first Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) to eliminate criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations operating in Southeast Texas.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n The office launched the \u201cHouston Most Wanted\u201d fugitives list highlighting violent offenders wanted by local, state, and federal law enforcement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Within six months of the list\u2019s launch, six fugitives were captured.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Major enforcement actions<\/b><\/p>\n Operation Summer Heat resulted in:<\/p>\n 64 arrests<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 65 firearms seized<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 339 machine gun conversion devices recovered<\/p>\n<\/li>\n More than 100 kilograms of narcotics seized<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Over $600,000 in drug proceeds recovered<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n A six-year, multi-agency investigation led to federal RICO charges against 14 members of the Bandidos outlaw motorcycle gang engaged in a violent turf war with rival motorcycle gangs.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Notable convictions<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Beaumont agents helped secure a 30-year prison sentence for an MS-13 leader who executed two rival gang associates inside a Beaumont prison in 2022, triggering a week-long nationwide federal inmate lockdown.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A 79-year-old previously convicted kidnapper was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison after committing his second kidnapping, targeting a Beaumont attorney in the summer of 2024.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Counterintelligence and Cyber<\/p>\n Foreign intelligence operations<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Houston agents and Houston police arrested alleged Chinese spy Liren Lai for conducting clandestine intelligence operations targeting U.S. Navy personnel on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n International cyber arrests<\/b><\/p>\n Less than a week later, FBI Houston agents and Italian police arrested Xu Zewei, a suspected MSS hacker, on an airport runway in Milan, Italy.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Zewei is among the first hackers linked to China\u2019s largest and most active intelligence agency to be captured by the FBI.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Sanctions evasion<\/b><\/p>\n Estonian national Andrey Shevlyakov was extradited to the United States by FBI Houston agents.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n He faces federal charges for allegedly bypassing U.S. sanctions by illegally exporting microelectronics and high-tech products to Russia through shell companies.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Counterterrorism<\/p>\n ISIS-related prosecution<\/b><\/p>\n Abdulrahman Mohammed Alqaysi was sentenced to 12 years in prison following an FBI Houston investigation.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Alqaysi, a legal permanent resident of Richmond, Texas, educated ISIS members on hacking, designed logos for the group\u2019s media arm, and used stolen credit card information to create fraudulent identification documents.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Narco-terrorism cases<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Houston and DEA Houston agents extradited Adrian Alberto Cano Gomez, an alleged member of the Colombian narco-terrorist organization ELN, to Texas to face federal narco-terrorism and drug trafficking charges.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Following the designation of Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization, FBI Houston\u2019s Safe Streets Task Force brought some of the first U.S. terrorism-related charges against Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, a high-ranking TdA member currently in custody in Colombia and facing extradition.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Civil Rights and Public Corruption<\/p>\n Civil rights violations<\/b><\/p>\n FBI Houston agents arrested two individuals in connection with the November 2023 firebombing of a Buddhist temple in New Caney, Texas.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Public corruption cases<\/b><\/p>\n Brian Busby, former Chief Operating Officer of the Houston Independent School District, and Anthony Hutchison, an HISD contractor, were convicted on 33 federal charges related to a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Former Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportation officer Christopher Toral was sentenced to five years in federal prison after transporting nearly $700,000 in what he believed were drug proceeds, following coordination between FBI Houston\u2019s public corruption squad and federal prosecutors.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FBI Houston had a busy year in 2025, starting off the first day of the year by 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