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Thursday, May 3, 2018

Sinaloa Cartel has more planes that Aeramexico

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Noreste article

Subject Matter: Sinaloa Cartel
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required

The organization has Cessnas to Boeing 727 and recruits the best pilots


Reporter: Infobae
The career of Jorge Gustavo Arevalo-Kessler as a pilot for the private airline of the Sinaloa Cartel ended with his arrest in the City of Mexico and his admission of guilt before a Federal Judge of the United States.

Born in Germany, Arevalo-Kessler obtained his Mexican citizenship and rose to the rank of Captain in the Mexican Air Force, where he worked as an instructor and trained hundreds of pilots, but his post military career was very different.


He received an offer to fly Emirate Airlines and could have retired with a fat pension, but in place of this he went to work for Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, and flew cocaine to and from Venezuela, Panama and Mexico.

"Many privileges came his way thanks to his education and ability to fly planes", said Gray Miller, District Judge, during his sentencing of Arevalo-Kessler. " I want to say that he has flown combat planes, commercial planes, small and large jets. Unfortunately, he said, he was blinded by greed".

Arévalo-Kessler received 11 years in federal prison on conspiracy charges tied to money laundering and had few words in response to the sentence, according to a transcript of the trial in 2011 that was released last year.

The cartel fleet is even comparable with some of the major international airlines.
"And in all those black days I've been thinking and praying and I'm asking the Lord to approach me and speak to me with the truth," Arévalo-Kessler said. "And the only thing I want to let you know, Your Honor, is that I have time to think about what I did. What I did was wrong. "

Arévalo-Kessler was an important pilot in the air operations of the Sinaloa Cartel, which by number of aircraft can compete with the major airlines of Mexico. The size of its fleet is by a large margin larger than that of Aeromexico, the largest commercial airline in the country.

The cartel's fleet is even comparable to that of many international airlines, although many of the cartel's aircraft are smaller, designed to fulfill their role of traveling to and from remote and clandestine airstrips.


This information comes with an investigation carried out by El Universal, who obtained data on planes confiscated by Mexican federal forces between 2006 and 2015. The numbers are even surprising for the Sinaloa Cartel itself, the world's richest drug trafficking organization.

Mexico has confiscated 599 airplanes and helicopters linked to the Sinaloa Cartel exclusively, according to the newspaper's information. That's almost five times the size of the Aeromexico fleet, although we insist, most of the Sinaloa Cartel aircraft are small, among which are Cessnas (the most popular), Gulf-streams, Pipers and others.

A complex nexus of phantom, private companies and "training schools" conceals their true purpose.

Considering that this number is exclusively confiscated air fleet, not active, the absolute total is probably higher and we can expect the cartel to replenish its losses after these operations. Although not all of the cartel's planes are of small dimensions, Arévalo-Kessler admitted to Mexican authorities that he had flown a Boeing 727 for the cartel.

According to El Universal "If it were a legal company, the cartel would also compete as the most lucrative airport company in the country, operating 4,771 clandestine airstrips between 500 meters and one kilometer long, nestled in the heart of the mountains. in the northern states. "

The Sinaloa Cartel is an international organization, but it is mainly located in northwestern Mexico and centered around the state of Sinaloa. According to the newspaper, the landing and take-off runways are heavily concentrated in Sinaloa, but also towards the border between Baja California and California.

But what the Arévalo-Kessler case shows is that the Sinaloa Cartel does not need to be legal to compete with the world's airlines. A job offer from Emirates (one of the best in the world) and a career in the Mexican Air Force gave him  opportunities to work directly on airplanes. So he went to work for El Chapo.

Illegal or not, the cartel has proven capable of recruiting top talent.


29 comments:

  1. The flight schools set up would I'm sure be a way to recruit pilots as I'm sure they are not that plentiful in Mexico.I checked it out years ago like 25 to see how many flight schools in Mexico.There were 3 in the whole country.Also I talked to a Mexican Air Traffic Controller who told me again 25 years ago that Mexicana Airlines would hire pilots with only 250 hours compared to 5000 hours for major carriers north of the border because of so few flight schools to recruit from.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So it’s fair to say, one flies at his or hers own risk!
      Passenger speaking. Funny 😄

      Delete
    2. Mexicana de Aviación laid off its pilots and bankrupted an excellent money making corporation that had thousands of expert pilots and personel, had been around for many years and sold it for one dollar, because foreign corporations wanted to eliminate the competition... todo lo que agarra el pinche gobierno mexicano lo hacen cagada.
      --I knew one pilot that worked there for about 40 years until he was mandatory retired, he was a graduate of the air college in Zapopan Jalisco and retired a Captain from FAM to go to work for MEXICANA DE AVIACION.

      Delete
  2. If you know they are Cartel planes, why NOT just repose them??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Mexico has confiscated 599 airplanes and helicopters" which are all auctioned off to the highest bidder ... the cartel!

      Nice little merry-go-round enriching the officials behind desks.

      Delete
  3. old news. 2015 year talked about this.
    According to Fox News Latino, “A secret testimony filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago in late 2014 revealed Guzman also owned a personal fleet of Boeing 747 jets, speedboats, submarines, tractor trailers and freight trains.”

    El Chapo himself has publicly confirmed he has an extensive transportation operation for his vast drug empire when he told Rolling Stone in January, “I have a fleet of submarines, airplanes, trucks and boats.” Such vast resources are necessary for a man who claims, “I supply more heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana than anybody else in the world.”

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. but new to many who missed it..

      Delete
    2. Only a fleet of aircraft at the Sinaloa cartel costs tens of billions of dollars.
      599 aircraft - only a small part of the total number.

      Delete
    3. 6:35 you are new to me, every day, Chivis.
      But the airplanes are real famous for their enterprising and Derring do since before WWII when the flying tigers went to help China move heroin to the US under guise of saving China from MAO and co...Air America has always had the means and the opportunity under any other name...

      Delete
    4. We can still learn from old news. - Sol Prendido

      Delete
  4. Sinaloa cartel has more gente huevona that does not want to work also!

    ReplyDelete
  5. With so many planes. Maybe they can offer convenient service---Uber-flights? Looking for a lyft? More on-time delivery. No delays.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is the best comment I've seen in a while
      I'm not a Sinaloan or cheerleader or affiliated to Sinaloa but let's be real, they know the business. A lot of Soinaloans are independent.

      Delete
    2. What would be the price for a ticket to get on these planes and do they have 1st class seating thinking of using them for my next flight

      Delete
  6. Wonder if they follow FAA pilot drug and alcohol testing policies. If not, they're risking BIG fines!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know for a fact that the area in and around las barrancas del cobre aka Copper Canyon between chihuahua and Sinaloa have for decades been notorious for cocaine transshipment points headed towards the border cities Juárez, nogales, Agua prieta, Mexicali and Tijuana for decades ... this part of Mexico is too remote to control or police, penetrable only by the cartels

    ReplyDelete
  8. What ever happened to El piloto Chino? Is he still flying for these guys?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw that guy on a documentary, totally looks CHINO, hes FUNNY AS HELL!! Cocky SOB.. hechale vIEJONES!!

      Delete
  9. "4,771 clandestine airstrips between 500m and 1 kilometer long" in the mountains in the Northern States.
    Like the D E A can't take a look at google maps satellite terrain view lol
    What are the taxpayers paying for here ? Complicity obviously.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Chapo was the last real godfather in Mexico. Mencho has a few trucks, Chapo had more planes than delta lmao.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There will always be a new drug boss, for now it's Mencho, you really think Mencho doesn't have all kinds of planes too? Cjng is in international cartel.

      Delete
    2. Most Mexican are training for walls on 60 foot high ladders, EVEN FIREFIGHTERS FER GOSSHAKES! see videos
      Who needs aigroplanos? Ni que jueramos Pancho Villa
      "La Persecucion de Villa", corrido.

      Delete
  11. Sinaloa does have alot of planes but why compare it to a whole different type of plane company? The reason why sinaloa has more planes than aeromexico is because sinaloa has alot of small single engine planes something that aeromexico doesnt, aeromexico has alot of passenger planes something that sinaloa doesnt.
    To put it more clear let me define what i mean,
    Having 10 honda civics doesnt mean you can compete against someone who has 5 lamborghinis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. While you make a valid point, let’s be honest. When you’re moving dope, 10 civics are better than 5 Lamborghinis.

      -El Deadpool de Los Antrax

      LOL ;)

      Delete
  12. @7:50, that's effed up, but lmfao.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Puro hente de IVAN !!!

    ReplyDelete
  14. People want to compare Apple's to orange's! It doesn't work that way.

    ReplyDelete

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