Always dressed in black, capped, masked, escorted and mobilized in luxury cars. This is how uniformed policemen were photographed during the surveillance of the extradited drug lord ‘Otoniel’s ex-wife, Blanca Madrid Benjumea, nicknamed La Flaca. It was recaptured in an operation against a million-dollar network linked to the “Clan del Golfo”.
(You may be interested in: Prioritizing the ceasefire at the table and control of the area, emergency returns with the ELN).
La ‘Flaca’ was deprived of his liberty at home with a prison sentence until September 2020 and was sentenced to seven years in prison for conspiracy to commit a crime, front man, money laundering, illegal enrichment and procedural fraud. Links with the ‘Otoniel’ organisation.
Police pointed out that even during his detention in Cali, he used the services of the Villamizar Anaya brothers, known as ‘las Gordas’, to move up to 500 million pesos every two weeks for his support.
According to the investigation of the Police Intelligence Directorate (Dipol), Dijín and the Police, after gaining his freedom, he continued illegal activities and joined a criminal organization of a network dedicated to relocation. and laundering millions of dollars in profits from his drug trafficking business.
The file shows that the woman moved to a luxury house in Medellín and was later found in Montería, where she was recaptured and set up her command post to roam the Urabá region and be aware of the large movement of cash.
Along with ‘Flaca’, ‘Chucho Primo’ José de Jesús Ruiz Arroyave, considered the head of the group, and four others were captured. The leader of the group was part of the Centauros Bloc of the Self-Defense Forces and was discharged in 2005, but continued to commit crimes.
In the so-called Santa Lucía operation, a mansion in the El Poblado district of Medellín was also found, containing 13,982 million pesos cash in cardboard boxes and safes, and two silver counters used to facilitate counting outgoing money. inside and outside the place that functions as the clan bank.
Police sources stated that this is the largest pesos cash seizure ever made in Colombia. They added that during the ceasefire signed by President Gustavo Petro with the ‘Colombian Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces’ (AGC), no offensive operations were carried out against their leaders, as members of the ‘Gulf clan’ now call themselves. but its finances have taken a hit so far this year with 345,000 million pesos succeeding in the invasion of assets to destroy its sphere of influence.
According to the investigation, the network not only had a structure set to move around six billion pesos per week, but had also moved ahead with its plans. merging a legit messaging company at the national level to use it to move the organization’s money.
Sophisticated bays with electronic activation have been documented in high-end cars to transport silver across the country and specifically to Medellín, Montería, Barranquilla and Cali. One of the used vehicles only opened the bellows if the driver’s window was lowered and the brakes were stopped at the same time.
Police investigators said some of the money was used to pay the network’s payroll and hand it over to the families of crime syndicate heads, while the rest was laundered in real estate and livestock businesses and starting companies. The façade where ‘Skinny’ in their plan is a key symbol for the operation of the illegal plan.
The investigation discovered two methods for delivering money to members of the network. In the first, another of those captured, José Manuel Zapata, transferred between 500 and 1,000 million pesos a month from one of the buildings where he had collected the money to what he called Arcoíris (a desolate apartment in the Los Colores district). Medellin). There he repackaged the silver and delivered it in cardboard boxes to avoid attracting the attention of the authorities, summoning buyers to deserted areas of the city.
In the other modality, the bay cars left in the parking lots came into play, the person who would take the money took the vehicle by taking the photocopy of the keys and went to the place where he would keep the goods. money and then returned the car. to the parking lot
The veteran intelligence investigators of the police spent two years behind the net and managed to reach a member of the organization who was threatened by his associates with an alleged heist of one hundred million dollars. Worried about his life, the man made the ‘fan’ work provided important data on the functioning of the organization and the criminal organization.
He even drew attention to the fact that after ‘Otoniel’ was caught and extradited to the USA, the money smuggling network began to disintegrate due to personal interests. For example, ‘Chucho Primo’ and José Zapata would join forces to seize most of the money and try to get ‘Flaca’ out of the way, stop handing over the accounts to him, as ‘Otoniel’ has expired. .
In addition to the confiscation of the money, the investigators underlined that the operation hindered the financing of new shipments of coca and obtained communications equipment, USB and computers that could strengthen new lines of investigation against the “Gulf clan”.
@justiciaET
justicia@eltiempo.com
Source: Exame
I am Bret Jackson, a professional journalist and author for Gadget Onus, where I specialize in writing about the gaming industry. With over 6 years of experience in my field, I have built up an extensive portfolio that ranges from reviews to interviews with top figures within the industry. My work has been featured on various news sites, providing readers with insightful analysis regarding the current state of gaming culture.
