Reform Agency / Abel Barajas.
Sunday, April 16, 2023 | 07:28
Mexico City (April 16, 2023).- Between 2017 and 2022 “Los Chapitos” sold in Los Angeles, California, around 80 kilos of fentanyl per month, at a price of between 13,000 and 30,000 dollars each, and used transport companies to distribute the drug to Ohio as well. Michigan, Minnesota, New York and Massachusetts.
Only one of his distributors said he had made profits of 24 million dollars from the sale of drugs in six states of the American Union.
The person in charge of this network in the US was an operator of the organization of the sons of “El Chapo” Guzmán and a DEA informant, identified as NN, who reported that he also supplied fentanyl to his clients through the postal service.
In a testimony that he gave on January 27, and that is based on the accusation against “Los Chapitos” in a US Court, NN says he has sent 9 million dollars in profits to “Los Chapitos” through operations ” mirror”, that is, deliveries of cash that could be collected in real time in Mexico, without going through the banking system.
Another 9 million dollars he gave to people who carried the money in vehicle tires, and the rest, 6 million dollars, to individuals who laundered the money in operations to facilitate the movement of funds to Mexico.
A trip to the ranch of the son of ‘Chapo’ for fentanyl
On January 27, Juan Carlos Arce Cabrera declared that last year he met Ovidio Guzmán at one of his ranches, in the town of La Anona, in Culiacán, to ask him to sell him $2.4 million worth of fentanyl.
According to Arce Cabrera, he is one of those who claims to have come to the domain of “El Ratón”, son of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, to stock up on 80 kilos of fentanyl for 30,000 dollars each.
In order to sit down with Ovidio, he narrated, he first had to travel to Mexico City on May 26, 2022, where he had an interview with one of the emissaries of the Sinaloa Cartel.
That same day, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) intercepted electronic communications between the “Los Chapitos” envoy and other members of the criminal organization.
In that call, the members of the cartel arranged the meeting between Arce Cabrera and the son of “Chapo”, for a week later.
The appointment was on May 31 at a gas station in Culiacán, where Arce Cabrera arrived and found a vehicle that took him to a ranch in La Anona.
Despite the fact that he assured that they asked him to leave his phone, the man said that he kept it, so he managed to take photos of the place.
“There were 40 uniformed gunmen, and with weapons for military use, six armored trucks with submachine guns on the roof. The hitmen were armed with AK-47s and rifles with grenade launchers,” he recalled.
“Ovidio Guzmán wore a belt and a pistol on his hip.”
On that occasion, he said, Ovidio told him that there were drug traffickers who manufactured fentanyl improperly, and that they put the lives of consumers at risk.
“They can die if you mix the fentanyl in a certain way,” he assured them, according to Arce Cabrera.
“Finish off those manufacturers and centralize production in Sinaloa,” one of those present advised the son of “El Chapo.”
According to the buyer’s statement, Ovidio authorized the sale of five kilos of fentanyl to him in Los Angeles, California; However, Arce Cabrera assured that he replied that he would need 80 to 100 kilos.
This witness provided photos of Ovidio Guzmán’s ranch to the DEA.
Recently, the Government of Joe Biden announced measures against the Sinaloa Cartel, blaming “Los Chapitos” for the manufacture of fentanyl in Mexico.
With this comment, the US reversed the Mexican discourse, and requested the extradition of Ovidio Guzmán, head of the “Los Chapitos” cartel.
