Argentina Police Arrest Sinaloa Cartel Members and Seize 2 Tons of Cocaine

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from Zeta

Cocaine Packaged Ready for Shipment from Argentina

By: Carlos Alvarez
June 20, 2017
Additional Material: Global Incidents Map
Mirror UK

The Superintendent of Dangerous Drugs of the Federal Police of Argentina detained 17 alleged narcotics traffickers, four of them of Mexican nationality, and seized some two tons of cocaine that were to be sent to Spain, specifically Barcelona and Canadian cities, drugs that are valued by the authorities at some 60 million dollars.

Specialized Packaging: including special wires and magnetic fields to avoid Scanners

According to the Argentine authorities, this is the largest drug seizure in the last 25 years in the country.

 A half-ton of the drug was packed in hundreds of hidden panels in eight steel coils,  found in a warehouse in an industrial park in the city of Bahía Blanca, 650 kilometers southwest of Buenos Aires, the capital of that nation.

Argentinian Port City of Bahia Blanca

The firefighters spent several hours cutting the metal from the coils to remove the drug. Meanwhile, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told Todo Noticias that the coils covered with eight layers of metal were specially prepared so that the scanners could not detect the prohibited substance.

Industrial Warehouse in Bahia Blanca

Another 500 kilos of cocaine were seized in the city of Mendoza, about a thousand kilometers west of the Argentine capital, near the Chilean border hidden in bags with precious stones. in the framework of the operation that culminated after four months of investigations.

"It's a huge organization...... we believe that the drugs entered from Chile," Bullrich said, adding that with increased vigilance in northern Argentina, drug trafficking networks changed routes. However, the official did not specify the identity of those arrested.

Bullrich also said the authorities are investigating whether these same criminal traffickers worked previously in very similar operations in 2012 and 2013.

The organization was led by six Mexicans, and two of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel members escaped arrest and international arrest warrants were issued. According to local media, the Argentine authorities presume that the drug was sent from Mendoza to Bahia Blanca by land and there packed in steel coils.

According to the Portal Infobae, the  Mexicans arrested are part of a cartel in Michoacán and arrived in Argentina in early January to settle in Bahia Blanca with the intention of trafficking cocaine to Europe.

 However, according to the newspaper La Gaceta, the detainees are part of the Sinaloa Cartel.

During the seizures, authorities also found $ 220,000 in cash, $ 158,000 Argentine pesos, five vehicles and several firearms. The alleged narcotics traffickers analyzed the shipping of the drugs from three different ports: Bahía Blanca, Campana and Buenos Aires.

The Biggest Drug Bust in Argentine History

This is the third time that Mexican cartel cell operations are being demonstrated in Argentina, since in the 1990s, when the Juarez Cartel laundered in that South American country, at least 21 million dollars through the purchase of properties. In 2008, the traffic of ephedrine of different organizations of Mexicans and Argentines was handled by the Sinaloa Cartel.