PHOENIX — A Mexican drug trafficker was sentenced on Tuesday to 180 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

Jorge Anaya-Valencia, a 48-year-old from Sonora, Mexico, had been illegally residing in Arizona and was identified as part of a Phoenix-based drug trafficking operation in November 2023, a press release said.

Three other drug trafficking associates with Anaya-Valencia were sentenced prior to him, Jesus Manuel Soto Quihui earning five years while Diego Nunez-Aispuri and Ivan Manuel Higuera Torres earned 46-month sentences.

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