Homeland Security Task Force Announces Operation 'Loaded Dice' Results in Las Vegas: 144 Arrests
October 9, 2026 · U.S. Department of Homeland Security · 0:17:46
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What happened
Federal, state, and local officials held a press conference in Las Vegas on the results of Operation ‘Loaded Dice,’ a Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative. A task force official explained, as he stated it, that there are 30 HSTF task forces across the United States whose mission is to disrupt and dismantle transnational criminal organizations, foreign gangs, and cartels, and he thanked partners including the FBI, DEA, ATF, the U.S. Department of State, the IRS, the Federal Air Marshal Service, the U.S. Marshals Service, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, and other Nevada agencies.
According to the official, the operation targeted criminal organizations involved in trafficking drugs, illegal firearms, bulk cash, and other contraband. In just 68 days, he said, participating agencies opened 13 new HSTF investigations and made 144 criminal arrests — 123 state arrests and 21 federal arrests — while seizing more than $1 million in assets, 290 firearms, and more than 1,100 kilograms of narcotics, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine, as he stated the figures.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sigal Chattah for the District of Nevada then described how her office turns task force operations into indictments, citing, as she stated it, an indictment secured the previous day against a traveler intercepted at Harry Reid International Airport with nearly 50 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in checked luggage, and earlier takedowns that seized more than 30,000 fentanyl pills, pure fentanyl powder, heroin, and illegal firearms. She said her office works with agents on warrants, wiretaps, and surveillance so evidence holds up before federal grand juries.
Why it matters
The announcement is a concrete results briefing for the administration’s Homeland Security Task Force model, pairing immigration-era enforcement structures with drug- and gun-trafficking prosecutions in Nevada.
Scoreboard watch
Flagged for the scoreboard editor: officials announced checkable operation totals — 144 arrests (123 state, 21 federal), 290 firearms, and more than 1,100 kilograms of narcotics seized over 68 days — as stated at the press conference; no verdict is given here.
Sources: U.S. Department of Homeland Security, “WATCH: Homeland Security Task Force Holds Press Conference on Operation \u201cLoaded Dice\u201d”, Las Vegas, Nevada, 2026-10-09 (official upload, embedded above; published 2026-10-09). Transcript via Supadata (private research store, paraphrased and attributed, not republished). All figures and characterizations as stated by the speakers.