At the trial, the prosecution said that during a 2008 sting operation by U.S. drug enforcement agents in Thailand, Bout believed he was selling weapons to Colombian guerrillas.

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The mission -- carried out aboard helicopters owned by the U.S. State Department and with support of Drug Enforcement Administration agents -- laid bare the reach of U.S. involvement in Honduran security missions, as well as its associated risks.

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It must have been a major disappointment to the FBI's New York field office when, in February 2000, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents arrested Gravano and others in connection with a massive ecstasy ring in Arizona.

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The administration already is borrowing agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service and other federal agencies to serve temporarily as air marshals while others are hired and trained for this role.

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Cultivation has also risen in Bolivia, but not by much, despite the government's expulsion last year of America's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), whose agents it accused of meddling.

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The owner said his club routinely takes care of high-ranking employees of the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador as well as visiting agents from the FBI and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, KIRO said.

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