Drug trafficking network falls accused of sending cocaine from Santa Marta to Europe

This Saturday, through a statement, the Attorney General's Office announced that it presented to a guarantee control judge six people who would be part of a drug trafficking network accused of sending cocaine from the maritime terminal of Santa Marta, Magdalena, to Romania, Lithuania and other countries on the peninsula Balkan.

He also pointed out that one of the members of the illegal structure is a patrol car and two former members of the National Police, who would be responsible for allowing drug shipments to pass into the cargo area, these were camouflaged among containers that left for Europe with export-type fruits and textiles.

He also added that the other persons who would be linked to this network apparently made contacts for the acquisition and transport of cocaine in Colombia, and maintained alliances with the so-called mafias in the Balkans.

The defendants were captured in joint proceedings between the Public Prosecutor's Office and the National Police, with the support of the US agency DEA, in Envigado (Antioquia), Neiva and Pitalito (Huila), Santa Marta (Magdalena), and Popayán (Cauca).

By decision of a guarantee judge, five of the defendants received custodial measures. Two of the former officials, Camilo Andrés Bonilla Santos and Rubén Darío Rojas Aguirre, in prison; while Leonard Antonio Monsalvo Molinares, Luis Alfredo Peñaranda Monsalvo and Carlos Andrés Quintero Pajón were insured in their places of residence.

On the other hand, patrolman Jorge Andrés Vanegas Villa was linked by a non-custodial measure, a determination appealed by the Prosecutor's Office.

In addition, he added that in the course of the investigation the organization was seized two tons of cocaine hydrochloride, which were intended for Romania on 12 May 2016. Six Romanian citizens were captured at that time.

The Attorney General's Office presented the five women, who were captured, who were identified as Laura Michel Saenz Díaz, Angy Carolina Contreras Chavez, Sharon Andrea Naranjo Rodriguez, Olga Cecilia Charris Alvarez, Shelian Andrea de León Díaz and also Wilmer Andrés Contreras Chavez. Adds the judicial body assured that they were destined for Bogotá.

The events occurred on March 4, when the persons involved managed to circumvent several police checks at Ernesto Cortissoz airport, but the authorities noticed a suspicious attitude in one of the women, so a security officer ordered a search. There they found that he had a belly attached, filled with a substance whose characteristics were similar to those of cocaine.

According to the commander of the Barranquilla Metropolitan Police, General Luis Carlos Hernández, the flight they were going to board was temporarily suspended due to the deployment of the security operation, with which they found the other 4 women who had the same characteristics, “to be pregnant”. At the same time, they found the man who had already put 3 packs of drugs in the bathroom of the plane. According to authorities, 3 other subjects managed to escape, meaning that a total of 9 people were involved in the criminal act.

A total of 14 packages containing 16 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride were seized. The Office of the Prosecutor General prosecuted them for the crime of trafficking, manufacture or carrying of narcotic drugs. A court with guarantees control functions in the municipality of Sabanagrande, Atlántico, sheltered the defendants with house detention; a decision that was appealed by the prosecutor in the case. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.

KEEP READING: