November 28, 2025

[Cleveland, OH] FBI Cleveland announced results of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), a multi-agency initiative led by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to tackle the presence of criminal cartels, foreign gangs, and transnational criminal organizations operating across northern Ohio and nationwide.

FBI Cleveland, together with its Homeland Security Task Force partners, reported the following for the period of Feb. 1 – Nov. 20, 2025:

  • 297 arrests
  • 241 weapons recovered
  • 467 searches with a warrant

Drugs seized totaling 643.6 kilos:

  • Cocaine: 210.60 kilos
  • Crack Cocaine: 0.80 kilos
  • Fentanyl: 12.82 kilos
  • Heroin: 1.48 kilos
  • Meth: 417.90 kilos

The Homeland Security Task Force was established in March 2025 when the White House’s Homeland Security Council announced the implementation phase of the new HSTFs as part of a nationwide collaborative to recognize a comprehensive response to the growing threat to public safety and national security.

The HSTF focuses on violations including but not limited to drug trafficking, money laundering, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, alien smuggling, homicide, extortion, kidnapping, and other transnational organized crime-related violations that may be of federal investigative interest.

FBI Cleveland Special Agent in Charge Greg Nelsen

“The HSTF model allows all agencies to work lockstep with a common goal and shared mission: crush the presence of criminal organizations in our communities. Through interagency collaboration and by surging resources, the FBI and HSI are focused on protecting the homeland and ensuring the safety and security of everyone in our communities is shielded from violent criminals. Our work has just started. Make no mistake, if you are engaging in transnational organized crime and related criminal conduct, we will find you, we will investigate you, and we will bring you to justice.”

United States Attorney David M. Toepfer

“Communities should not have to live in fear and under threat of violence from criminal organizations. Our federal prosecutors are on a mission to put dangerous individuals who have no regard for others —or for the law — behind bars where they can no longer hurt people. FBI Cleveland and our other federal and regional partner agencies are making incredible strides within the framework of the Homeland Security Task Force to keep our country safe. Together, we’ll coordinate resources and tools to take back communities caught in the clutches of ruthless law breakers.”

In addition to the FBI and DHS, partner agencies include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency (ATF); the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS); the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); the U.S. Attorney’s Offices Northern District of Ohio; and other federal, state, and local agencies that provide law enforcement or legal support to the task force.

If you or someone you know is engaged in criminal misconduct, call 1-800-CALL FBI. Your identity can remain anonymous when sharing tips with the FBI.

This above law enforcement activity is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of United States law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States. HSTF Cleveland comprises agents and officers from the FBI and HSI with full inclusion of additional agencies, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and over 15 other federal partner agencies with the prosecution being led by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Ohio.