(Photo: narcotraficoenmexico.blogspot.com)
Widow of Colombian drug trafficker arrested, she worked with Pilot Cartel and Mexican Drug Lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, of the Sinaloa Cartel
By H. Nelson Goodson
February 9, 2010
Bogotá, Colombia - On Monday, a Colombian miltary police operation along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (U.S. DEA) arrested María Patricia Rodríguez Monsalve aka "La Señora" or "La Doctora", 38, the widow of Francisco Cifuentes Villa aka "Don Pancho" of the Cali Cartel. She was taken into custody in El Poblado neighborhood in the city of Medellin. 20 other suspects (including 12 pilots) were arrested along Rodríguez Monsalve (a pilot herself) for alleged cocaine manufacturing, smuggling, and distribution, in what is considered one of the largest operations against drug trafficking in Colombia, within the last ten years. Rodríguez Monsalve who is originally from Mexico took over the drug trafficking operations after her husband was killed at Planeta Rica, Córdoba in 2007.
Her husband died owing up to six tons of cocaine to El Chapo del Sinaloa Cartel, so she decided to form a mutual working relationship with him to pay the debt. She also worked with the Pilot Cartel and became a instrumental contact to Mexican Drug Lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, of the Sinaloa Cartel, General Óscar Naranjo, director of the Columbian National Military Police said during a press conference.
Rodríguez Monsalve's operations was the infrastructure for the Maximiliano Bonilla aka "Valenciano", Daniel Barrera aka "El Loco Barrera", and the Javier Antonio and Luis Enrique Calle brothers, known as "Los Comba" (the gang).
Rodríguez Monsalve was arrested along with other five suspects known to operate the Pilot Drug Cartel. They handled flight smuggling operations from Rodriguez Monsalve private properties that were turned into clandestine air fields connecting air routes from the Pacific, Central America to Mexico, and then the drugs would get smuggled into the U.S.
Also arrested with Rodriguez Monsalve were Freddy Arciniegas Niño, José Guilerrmo Gallón Henao, Mario Gómez, Julio Hernando Moya, and John Freddy Correa who is also affiliated with the brothers "Comba" or "Calle Serna". He was able to managed the cocaine drug making laboratories in Nariño, Cauca and Valle del Cauca in Colombia.
Eric Van Dorian López Agudelo, was an active special agent with the Colombian Department of Security Administration (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) compatibile to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He allegedly provided information to the Pilot Drug Cartel in exchange for money, according to the U.S. federal indictment.
Gómez was able to recruit other pilots and the drug smuggling air routes extended to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panamá, Venezuela, Africa and Europe. Moya was in the process of establishing various businesses in Florida and handled the alteration of flight plans and provided false documents for the airplanes. Authorities confiscated between 15-25 private planes including 5 which were registered to Rodríguez Monsalve who travelled to Panamá and Miami frequently. She owned several luxury apartments in both places.
Authorities are now working on seizing properties, assets, vehicles, jewelry, weapons, airplanes, money, and all bank accounts connected to the drug smuggling operation of the suspects arrested on Monday in Colombia and other countries. Federal authorities and the Colombian National Police are now proceeding to identify and investigate businesses that worked with the Pilot Cartel.
Rodríguez Monsalve and the five previously mentioned suspects, including 15 other suspects are expected to be extradicted to the U.S.A., to face multiple federal drug trafficking charges. Authorities are expected to arrest another 16 suspects in connection with the Pilot Cartel.
The arrests were in conjunction with an international investigative partnership called "Operation Frontier" involing at least ten other countries. The suspects had been wiretapped since 2007, and telephone conversations between pilots and others led to their arrests. The investigation has led to other arrests as well, in ten countries, General Naranjo said.
The following suspects were arrested on Monday in the cities of Cali, Medellin, Bucaramanga and Ibague by U.S. DEA and the Colombian National Police. A special investigative group of 35 units involving more than 80 special undercover agents was created after a private plane crashed for lack of fuel over the Dominican Republic carrying cocaine, over two years ago. The crash of the plane led authorities to discover that at least 5 tons of cocaine was being smuggled weekly through Central Amerca, Mexico, Africa, Europe and the U.S.
General Naranjo said, the major bust and shutting down the smuggling operations of the Pilot Cartel will most likely eliminate the cocaine supplies for the drug cartels. The drug cartels are facing a substantial blow to their economic survival, according to Naranjo. Naranjo credited the U.S. DEA, North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force, the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District Office in Dallas, Texas, the Colombian Attorney General's Office, and 10 other countries for the coordinated success.
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) is a program that enhances and coordinates drug control efforts among local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies. The program provides agencies with coordination equipment, technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States.
Those identified in the arrests are:
Jairo Hernando Rodríguez Beltrán, Fabio Lorenzo Ibarra Cruz, Mario Fernándo Gómez González, John Freddy Correa, Freddy Arciniegas Niño, Óscar Orlando Barrera Pineda, Luis Guillermo Valencia Bedoya, Erik Van Dorian López Agudelo, Cristian Vásquez Angel, Hermán Federico Umbreit Urrutia, Óscar Ruiz Correa, Jaime Gonzalo Castiblanco Calbancante, Javier Marín Arboleda, Fernando Alexander Moreno Rodríguez, José Guillermo Gallón Henao, Bayron de Jesús González Vásquez, Robert William Villegas, Jaime Andrés Rodríguez Melo, Hugo Ancir Megudán Méndez, Orlando Prieto Gómez, and Maria Patricia Rodríguez Monsalve.
For an online copy of the unsealed February 5, 2010 federal indictment by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Eastern District Court of Texas is posted at ketknbc.com: http://bit.ly/aVupfV
General Naranjo news conference in Colombia (Spanish) at Internet News links: http://bit.ly/bbXPCJ
and http://bit.ly/9CAoCj
and http://bit.ly/ax40LS
Connected by MOTOBLUR™ on T-Mobile
Widow of Colombian drug trafficker arrested, she worked with Pilot Cartel and Mexican Drug Lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, of the Sinaloa Cartel
By H. Nelson Goodson
February 9, 2010
Bogotá, Colombia - On Monday, a Colombian miltary police operation along with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (U.S. DEA) arrested María Patricia Rodríguez Monsalve aka "La Señora" or "La Doctora", 38, the widow of Francisco Cifuentes Villa aka "Don Pancho" of the Cali Cartel. She was taken into custody in El Poblado neighborhood in the city of Medellin. 20 other suspects (including 12 pilots) were arrested along Rodríguez Monsalve (a pilot herself) for alleged cocaine manufacturing, smuggling, and distribution, in what is considered one of the largest operations against drug trafficking in Colombia, within the last ten years. Rodríguez Monsalve who is originally from Mexico took over the drug trafficking operations after her husband was killed at Planeta Rica, Córdoba in 2007.
Her husband died owing up to six tons of cocaine to El Chapo del Sinaloa Cartel, so she decided to form a mutual working relationship with him to pay the debt. She also worked with the Pilot Cartel and became a instrumental contact to Mexican Drug Lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, of the Sinaloa Cartel, General Óscar Naranjo, director of the Columbian National Military Police said during a press conference.
Rodríguez Monsalve's operations was the infrastructure for the Maximiliano Bonilla aka "Valenciano", Daniel Barrera aka "El Loco Barrera", and the Javier Antonio and Luis Enrique Calle brothers, known as "Los Comba" (the gang).
Rodríguez Monsalve was arrested along with other five suspects known to operate the Pilot Drug Cartel. They handled flight smuggling operations from Rodriguez Monsalve private properties that were turned into clandestine air fields connecting air routes from the Pacific, Central America to Mexico, and then the drugs would get smuggled into the U.S.
Also arrested with Rodriguez Monsalve were Freddy Arciniegas Niño, José Guilerrmo Gallón Henao, Mario Gómez, Julio Hernando Moya, and John Freddy Correa who is also affiliated with the brothers "Comba" or "Calle Serna". He was able to managed the cocaine drug making laboratories in Nariño, Cauca and Valle del Cauca in Colombia.
Eric Van Dorian López Agudelo, was an active special agent with the Colombian Department of Security Administration (Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) compatibile to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He allegedly provided information to the Pilot Drug Cartel in exchange for money, according to the U.S. federal indictment.
Gómez was able to recruit other pilots and the drug smuggling air routes extended to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panamá, Venezuela, Africa and Europe. Moya was in the process of establishing various businesses in Florida and handled the alteration of flight plans and provided false documents for the airplanes. Authorities confiscated between 15-25 private planes including 5 which were registered to Rodríguez Monsalve who travelled to Panamá and Miami frequently. She owned several luxury apartments in both places.
Authorities are now working on seizing properties, assets, vehicles, jewelry, weapons, airplanes, money, and all bank accounts connected to the drug smuggling operation of the suspects arrested on Monday in Colombia and other countries. Federal authorities and the Colombian National Police are now proceeding to identify and investigate businesses that worked with the Pilot Cartel.
Rodríguez Monsalve and the five previously mentioned suspects, including 15 other suspects are expected to be extradicted to the U.S.A., to face multiple federal drug trafficking charges. Authorities are expected to arrest another 16 suspects in connection with the Pilot Cartel.
The arrests were in conjunction with an international investigative partnership called "Operation Frontier" involing at least ten other countries. The suspects had been wiretapped since 2007, and telephone conversations between pilots and others led to their arrests. The investigation has led to other arrests as well, in ten countries, General Naranjo said.
The following suspects were arrested on Monday in the cities of Cali, Medellin, Bucaramanga and Ibague by U.S. DEA and the Colombian National Police. A special investigative group of 35 units involving more than 80 special undercover agents was created after a private plane crashed for lack of fuel over the Dominican Republic carrying cocaine, over two years ago. The crash of the plane led authorities to discover that at least 5 tons of cocaine was being smuggled weekly through Central Amerca, Mexico, Africa, Europe and the U.S.
General Naranjo said, the major bust and shutting down the smuggling operations of the Pilot Cartel will most likely eliminate the cocaine supplies for the drug cartels. The drug cartels are facing a substantial blow to their economic survival, according to Naranjo. Naranjo credited the U.S. DEA, North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force, the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District Office in Dallas, Texas, the Colombian Attorney General's Office, and 10 other countries for the coordinated success.
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) is a program that enhances and coordinates drug control efforts among local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies. The program provides agencies with coordination equipment, technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States.
Those identified in the arrests are:
Jairo Hernando Rodríguez Beltrán, Fabio Lorenzo Ibarra Cruz, Mario Fernándo Gómez González, John Freddy Correa, Freddy Arciniegas Niño, Óscar Orlando Barrera Pineda, Luis Guillermo Valencia Bedoya, Erik Van Dorian López Agudelo, Cristian Vásquez Angel, Hermán Federico Umbreit Urrutia, Óscar Ruiz Correa, Jaime Gonzalo Castiblanco Calbancante, Javier Marín Arboleda, Fernando Alexander Moreno Rodríguez, José Guillermo Gallón Henao, Bayron de Jesús González Vásquez, Robert William Villegas, Jaime Andrés Rodríguez Melo, Hugo Ancir Megudán Méndez, Orlando Prieto Gómez, and Maria Patricia Rodríguez Monsalve.
For an online copy of the unsealed February 5, 2010 federal indictment by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Eastern District Court of Texas is posted at ketknbc.com: http://bit.ly/aVupfV
General Naranjo news conference in Colombia (Spanish) at Internet News links: http://bit.ly/bbXPCJ
and http://bit.ly/9CAoCj
and http://bit.ly/ax40LS
Connected by MOTOBLUR™ on T-Mobile
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