ATLANTA — A Mexican drug supplier pleaded guilty to federal charges for importing over 170 pounds of cocaine from Mexico to metro Atlanta.
Orfael Macedo Bustos, 52, was extradited from Mexico to the United States in November 2025 and has remained in federal custody since then.
Macedo Bustos, of Guerrero, Mexico, led an organization that coordinated tractor-trailers to transport cocaine into metro Atlanta for distribution.
“International drug traffickers often believe they can operate beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement,” said Jae W. Chung, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division. “Today’s guilty plea proves otherwise.”
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Federal investigators say they have seized more than 170 pounds of cocaine since the investigation began in 2017, including 140 pounds in Fulton County and 33 pounds in Cobb County.
Macedo Bustos pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and possession with intent to distribute cocaine after being indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2018.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 15.
He faces at least 10 years of imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
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