DEA Special Agents at AUCA

March 18, 2016

March 14, 2016, Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, Special Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), met with students of the American University of Central Asia (AUCA). Steve and Javier delivered a speech on how they and their team targeted the world’s first narco-terrorist, Pablo Escobar, and the Medellin Cartel. After the presentation, students enthusiastically asked Steve and Javier questions about this operation and Pablo Escobar.

Living and working alongside their counterparts in Medellin, Colombia, as well as with elite U.S. military units, they dismantled the largest and most violent international drug trafficking organization of its time.

During Escobar’s reign of narco-terrorism, the cartel kingpin ordered the deaths of thousands of innocent people, including police officers, politicians, judges, journalists and a presidential candidate. Murphy and Peña spent six years on the search for Pablo Escobar before their team successfully captured and killed him. This was a milestone in the field of international narcotics investigations and U.S. and international law enforcement continue to utilize many of the strategies and innovative ideas developed by the two Special Agents.

Today, Steve and Javier serve as Technical Consultants and Subject Matter Experts for the newly released Netflix series, NARCOS, which is based on their activities while living in Columbia.