Even "Most Powerful" El Chapo can have a Bad Week

Borderland Beat
SAE Auction off More Narco Items

Mexico, DF. The Ministry of Finance and Credit Secretary (SHCP) have put up for sale two dozen items including residences and aircraft once owned by drug traffickers like Joaquin Guzman Loera, El Chapo, and Ignacio Nacho Coronel, some of which are valued up to 15 million pesos (1.18 million dollars).

La Jornada had access to SAE reports/009/1324-2013 indicating they have have also put up for sale (a dozen) real estate property located in several states, along with jewelry, specialized machinery, vehicles, vans, various merchandise and scrap steel  

According to La Jornada,  highlighted property as jewelry-included imported brand gold watches inlaid with precious stones, which were seized from drug traffickers of different cartels between 80 and 90.

During the last eight months, the Department of Administration and Disposal of Assets (SAE) has presented at least ten public auctions online in which they have been placed real estate on the national market for 250 million pesos (over $ 19 million) through their different business processes, according to preliminary figures. 

Aircraft include:eight Cessnas Grumman Gulfstream II six different models, plus a Sabreliner and Beechcraft King Air 300, which were manufactured between 1968 and 1986

Two Grumman aircraft, two Cessna and King Air aircraft PGR said were confiscated from drug traffickers in 90s and were later incorporated into PGRs fleet to reinforce operational interception.


The Grumman airplanes are used daily by PGR officials to move in the country, and its sale began in auction with starting price for 202,000 pesos.

The plane that is quoted as the most expensive is Beechcraft King Air 300, with a starting bid price of 2,859,000 pesos.
!0 things you may not have known about El Chapo's airplane

1.-The Sinaloa cartel used HSBC Mexico to deposit payments for the purchase of an airplane Super Beechcraft King Air 300 that used for cocaine trafficking.

2.-The DEA announced that the plane was secured in late 2007 by Mexican authorities in Cuernavaca, Morelos.

3.-According to records from the PGR, banking transactions for the acquisition of the Super Beechcraft King Air aircraft, original registration N25MR, deposits were made ​​by dollar accounts into the HSBC bank, domiciled in the Cayman Islands.

4.-The aircraft was carrying a false registration number N14-TF5 and entered on December 28 into Mexican airspace illegally.

5.-On that occasion the plane was persecuted and videotaped by the army until he landed at the airport in Cuernavaca, where they were unloaded nearly two tons of cocaine, without being able to catch the perpetrators.


6.-The aircraft was part of a much broader investigation on the purchase of 13 aircraft by the Sinaloa cartel to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Mexico and the United States , according to reports from the PGR and DEA.

July. - Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada and Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, chief of that criminal organization, funded with nearly $13 million to purchase of aircraft.

8.-The multilateral research was conducted simultaneously in Mexico, United States, Colombia, Guatemala and other countries in the region after securing a number of aircraft used in the transfer of drugs.

9.-On Monday December 10th the U.S. government announced that the British bank HSBC accepted responsibility for laundering around 7 billion dollars between 2007 and 2008 from its branches in Mexico.

10.-The bank reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to pay a fine of one 1.9 billion dollars.

Among the confiscated residences listed by the federal Government to auction is a residence located in the state of Jalisco with a value of 4.5 million pesos. According to the the Government sources consulted it was used by the Sinaloa cartel in the 80's.

In the real estate auction highlights were included two pieces of land of more than 5000 square meters, and various houses located in different states of the country, some built on land near the Pacific Ocean. 

Several of the properties to be auctioned are in poor condition due to lack of maintenance, since most of them had to endure a decade of litigation in courts so that the Mexican State could seize the goods with implement the extinction of eminent domain assets.

The auctions are organized by SAE for participation of any person interested parties, who must first acquire the basics, which costs 500 pesos. Once enrolled, participants register their interest in any of the items and the starting price with an ascending bid and is awarded to the bidder who submits the highest bid

In 2010 the SAE held an auction of assets seized from drug traffickers and among the auctioned pieces on the first day was a watch, set in rose gold case of 18 carat, which reached $70 thousand dollars and another for $10,000.

One of the most expensive pieces of jewelry in that auction was a ring with a large 12.25 karat diamond in the center, valued at $112 thousand dollars.

A 2009  Land Rover, model SUV, which had a starting bid of 150,000 pesos approximately $15,000 dollars was also sold for 58,400 Mexican pesos. Also they auctioned Cessna airplanes and Bell helicopters.

Setbacks like these  go with the drug trafficking territory, there is always more "narcobooty" to be had. Even being a rich, powerful drug lord doesn't mean anyone like their losses being rubbed in their faces by authorities.

SAE Narco items

The week got a little better for El Chapo 

There are three Mexicans: Enrique Peña Nieto, Carlos Slim Helu and Joaquin Guzman Loera on the Forbes Magazine's 2013 list of the most powerful people in the world. The list is headed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, 

Peña Nieto, who has been leading the country with the return of the PRI party in the 2012 presidential race, advanced 17 positions on the from the 2012-2013 prestigious list, ranking 37th.

With his 47 years, the former governor of the State of Mexico, is considered by Forbes as the second most powerful man in Mexico, after the tycoon Carlos Slim

and before Joaquin Guzman Loera, the most wanted drug trafficker in North America.

The telecom mogul, Carols Slim Helu, fell one position and ranks 12th on this list for 2013. He is considered the most powerful man in Mexico and the world's second wealthiest

"El Chapo" fell 4 positions in the Forbes list but remains as the only ranking character identified as a drug trafficker. And the most powerful in the world of drug trafficking.

With 56 years, the Sinaloan is responsible for 25% of the illicit drugs entering the the U.S. market could enter the year more than $ 3billion dollars. Last February, Guzman Loera was declared public enemy number one in Chicago.

Last March CNN quotes Forbes  regarding Chapo Guzman,"As the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, he is one of the most powerful people in the world, but no longer someone we are confident enough to call a billionaire," the magazine said on its website.

Forbes believes an increasing part of his fortune is going to protect him and his family and said that they had been unable to reach Guzman to "verify figures." It also said it was unclear how he spends the money he makes.

Authorities have been looking for Guzman ever since he escaped from a Mexican prison in a laundry cart in 2001. There have been reports of his death, but none confirmed.

The U.S. Treasury Department has declared Guzman the most influential trafficker in the world.

Chapo Guzman was just one of just 68 billionaires who were reported dropped from the list this year versus the 210 who were added to the exclusive 10-figure club. 
 
To select the 72 people occupying their "Most Powerful" list, Forbes based their decisions on four factors: population number over which they have power, financial resources under their control, if they have influence in more than one area and how they use their power to change the course the world.

Ultimately El Chapo doesn't care what an esteemed gringo financial rag says when he knows it's a struggle for even him and his accountants to keep track of exactly how many billions he has. But speaking of bureaucracy in the United States.

California authorities issued El Chapo a driver's license  in 1988

With the name of Max Aragon, one of Guzman Loera's aliases, authorities in California issued a driver's license to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, in 1988, reported the U.S. television station Univisión.

The Mexican Capo registered two Corvettes he bought in Los Angeles, the same cars that would be given away after presented by public safety officials in Mexico.

This document is part of a confidential record of the DEA released by the U.S. network.

The license photograph shows the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, date, height, age and address in Los Angeles.

In the report released yesterday by Univision unveil distribution networks 'El Chapo', where they stated that 120 narcotúneles detected by the authorities and at least 62 are the work of his criminal organization.

Testimonies with Border Patrol agents and the DEA, realizes that much of the drug personnel and infrastructure operating in major cities in the U.S. are controlled by the Sinaloa narco.

John Ripley, DEA agent, mentions an example, Chicago, where 100,000 street gang members are selling drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel and obey his orders


And Lastly, A Blow to the Blow which Blows for El Chapo

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents found 325 pounds of cocaine and 8 tons of marijuana inside the tunnel, with a street value totaling $12 million.

Authorities are eyeing the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful drug-trafficking gangs in the U.S. and its leader, Joaquin “el Chapo” Guzman.

Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel is behind an illicit “super tunnel” that led from a building in an industrial area of Tijuana near the U.S. border fence to a warehouse just west of the Otay Mesa port of entry, U.S. authorities said Thursday.

Measuring about one-third of a mile, the passageway followed a zig-zagging path and was equipped with lighting, ventilation and an electric rail system. Its discovery comes two years after two other major drug tunnels were found in the Otay Mesa area, and it marks the fifth “super tunnel” shutdown since 2010, said San Diego U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

“These are structurally sound and structurally engineered tunnels,” Duffy said. “They’re built by architects and engineers … it’s a very labor-intensive, sophisticated, high-tech operation.”

Authorities observed going in and out of these warehouse doors where the northern terminus of a cross border tunnel was discovered Wednesday  Authorities 

on both sides of the border were investigating a cross border tunnel that led from a warehouse in Tijuana 

to a Warehouse in San Diego on Thrusday, October 31, 2013.

Three suspects have been captured, but no major players.

Descriptions of the tunnel itself started out modest and have grown to something significant.

This it is safe to say is a setback that probably made the drug lord's week fall into the "bad" category.
Sources: Univison, Vanguard, UTSandiego, Newsfix, UnionJalisco
Sources: SDPNoticias,  Forbespowerlist, Forbes, CNN
Other Assets Auctioned by SAE, SAE Narco items, 
BB-DOJ Annoits El Chapo -2012,Forbes 2012,BB Forbes- 2011, 
Forbes 2012