Alleged $10M Reward Kingpin Arrested
- Federal agents in San Diego arrested Eugenio Dario Molina-Lopez, known as “Don Dario,” the alleged Los Huistas leader, after years as a fugitive. - Molina-Lopez, 61, appeared in federal court April 24 on a 2019 cocaine conspiracy indictment tied to a State Department reward of up to $10 million. - The case revives a 2022 U.S. crackdown on Los Huistas, a Guatemalan trafficking group linked to multi-ton cocaine shipments. (justice.gov)
Federal agents arrested Eugenio Dario Molina-Lopez in San Diego, bringing into custody a Guatemalan trafficking suspect once listed for a reward of up to $10 million. (justice.gov) The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California said Molina-Lopez, also known as “Don Dario,” made his initial appearance in federal court on Friday, April 24, 2026. Prosecutors say he led Los Huistas, a transnational criminal organization based in northwest Guatemala. (justice.gov) The charges come from a federal indictment returned on January 29, 2019, alleging conspiracy to distribute cocaine for unlawful importation and conspiracy to distribute cocaine on board a vessel. The case was part of Operation Guerrilla Unit, a multi-year Homeland Security Investigations and San Diego prosecutor probe. (justice.gov 1) (justice.gov 2) Los Huistas operates in Guatemala’s Huehuetenango region along the Mexico border, according to the State Department’s reward notice. U.S. officials said the group moved multi-ton quantities of cocaine north through Mexico for delivery into the United States. (state.gov) The State Department announced the reward on March 18, 2022, under its Narcotics Rewards Program. That notice said Molina-Lopez used aliases including “Molis,” “Sombrero,” and “Botas.” (state.gov) The same 2022 notice said investigators tied Molina-Lopez to a 461-kilogram cocaine seizure off Guatemala on April 3, 2018, a 2,268-kilogram seizure on July 4, 2018, and another 823-kilogram seizure eight days later. It also linked him to a January 2019 Houston seizure of about $687,335 in cash and 50 kilograms of cocaine. (state.gov) Federal prosecutors said the reward offer was paired with a Treasury Department sanctions action in March 2022 that designated Los Huistas and Molina-Lopez under Executive Order 14059. The sanctions targeted trafficking activity that U.S. officials said threatened both the United States and Guatemala. (justice.gov) U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said after the arrest that “cartel leaders don’t get to write the end of their stories.” The case now moves from a years-old fugitive investigation to federal court in San Diego. (justice.gov)
