Last month, the Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, along with a dedicated team of agents and prosecutors, shone bright among their peers, as acknowledged by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy at the 2025 National HIDTA Awards ceremony. Their sterling efforts in ‘Operation Double Down’ — a multi-agency crusade against narcotics trafficking — earned them top honors for best overall ‘Investigation’. “The work my office does as part of HIDTA is key to stopping the Mexican drug cartels and halting the flow of fentanyl through Arizona communities,” Mayes stated.
According to the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the operation that spanned seven months was a coordinated effort to gather intelligence and put a halt to drug transit operations in Arizona, it was meticulously executed by the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) Drug Enforcement Bureau and the DEA Phoenix Field Division’s Financial Investigations Group, focusing on a transnational criminal outfit deeply involved in drug trafficking and money laundering within the state.
The collaboration between law enforcement branches was exemplary, being an embodiment of resourceful partnership that led to concrete results; Assistant Attorney General Veronica Skinner and the prosecutors at the AGO were instrumental in securing arrest warrants for 25 individuals implicated in the investigation. The praises sung by the White House's drug policy office aren't just for a job well done, but a testament to the efficacy found in the inter-agency camaraderie. “I am grateful to our federal and local law enforcement partners. We will continue to work together to aggressively investigate and prosecute these transitional criminals,” said Attorney General Mayes.
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