‘Obscene and lethal amounts’: Drug kingpin gets 10 years for flooding Seattle’s ‘Jungle’ with narcotics

The 34-year-old leader of a widely spread drug distribution network was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday after law enforcement cracked down on activity in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District and nearby homeless camps, dubbed “The Jungle.”

Octavio Salazar Palma of Federal Way was arrested in May 2025 after a lengthy wiretap investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

“Led by his own greed, Mr. Salazar Palma piloted an interstate conspiracy to distribute obscene and lethal amounts of dangerous drugs through the International District and homeless encampments in Seattle,” said W. Mike Herrington, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Seattle field office. “No amount of profit can justify the cost of putting members of our own community at such a risk.”

Law enforcement seizes nearly $3 million in drugs in a single month

In March 2025 alone, law enforcement seized 100 pounds of methamphetamine, 111 kilos of cocaine, 19 kilos of fentanyl powder, 250,000 fentanyl pills, and four kilos of heroin during the investigation. The DOJ placed the street value of the narcotics at nearly $3 million.

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) also assisted in the takedown.

“You were a leader in the drug conspiracy; you were the source of an extraordinary amount of drugs in our community,” U.S. District Judge Tana Lin said at the sentencing hearing. “Despite multiple seizures by law enforcement, you did not stop; only the arrest made you stop.”

On May 29, 2025, law enforcement moved to take down Palma’s network by executing 16 search warrants across Federal Way, Vancouver, Everett, Pacific, Tukwila, Kent, Issaquah, Seattle, and cities in California and Oregon.

Investigators seized more than seven kilograms of cocaine, 18 kilograms of methamphetamine, more than 57,000 fentanyl pills, and 17 firearms, along with more than $353,000 in cash.

Palma agrees to forfeit cash, luxury cars, and jewelry

On April 15, Palma pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

“Salazar Palma engaged in drug trafficking not to support an addiction to controlled substances, but for his personal profit. And profit he did,” prosecutors wrote to the court in asking for a 140-month sentence. “When investigators searched his residence, they found nearly $20,000 in United States currency, which Salazar Palma admits were proceeds of his drug trafficking enterprise.”

Palma has also agreed to forfeit a 2024 BMW M3 Competition xDrive, a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe LT, and jewelry, due to the property being proceeds of his enterprise.

The DOJ noted Palma is a U.S. citizen who will be on four years of supervised release after his prison term.

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