PHARR, Texas (Border Report) — A major drug-pusher for a powerful Mexican drug cartel has been sent to prison for 27 years for distributing methamphetamine drugs north of the border in South Texas, the U.S. Department of Justice announced.

Homero Guerra-Moreno, a 48-year-old Mexican national, pleaded guilty and Wednesday was ordered to serve the lengthy federal prison sentence by U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo in Laredo, Texas, U.S. Attorney Alamdar Hamdani said.

Since 2013, Guerra-Moreno is believed to have trafficked about 15,000 kilograms of meth into South Texas from Mexico for the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), Hamdani said

Hamdani described the CJNG as “ruthless” and said Guerra-Moreno’s arrest, conviction and sentencing “dealt a blow to the Mexican cartels.”

The CJNG for years has been vying for territory, and warring with Mexican military and other cartels, like the Cartel del Noreste in the northern Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo, south of the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas.

“His capture and sentence sends a message to those who work with the cartels: You can run but you cannot hide,” Hamdani said.

“Reaching the source of supply is crucial in stopping the flow of devastating drugs into our communities,” said Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agent in Charge Daniel Comeaux of Houston. “The exemplary collective and persistent efforts between DEA and its federal partners brought down one of CJNG’s most significant meth source of suppliers in South Texas.”

For the past decade, Guerra-Moreno imported “ice” from Mexico through the United States for the CJNG and recruited traffickers to transport meth from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, into Laredo, Texas, federal authorities say.

He was arrested in May 2022 in Panama City, Panama, as he was trying to leave on a flight for Mexico, and was instead returned to Texas.

He pleaded guilty the following December. Officials say he will likely be deported after he completes serving his sentence.