Colombian Police Find $3.4 Million in
Container Shipped from Mexico
Bogota – Colombian police on Wednesday
found $3.4 million in a container shipped
from Mexico at the southwestern port of
Buenaventura, bringing to three the total
number of seizures of huge amounts of cash –
now $25.8 million in all – in the past eight
days in cargo inspections there, officials
said.
The customs department (Dian) “and the
Fiscal and Customs Police and are moving
forward with the inspection of the first
container of the three that were found today
(Wednesday) at the port of Buenaventura. The
money found in it totals $3.4 million,” said
an official communique.
The National Tax and Customs Directorate, or
Dian, added in the communique that the money
– which was split into packets of different
bill denominations – was hidden in sacks of
chalk or gypsum and sodium sulfate, and “so
far, the sum intercepted by customs
authorities stands at $25.8 million in less
than a week.”
Historically, this is the largest total sum
in U.S. dollars that Colombian authorities
have managed to seize as it was being
smuggled illegally.
Meanwhile, the head of the Colombian police,
Gen. Oscar Naranjo, told reporters that the
money could potentially be traced to Luis
Enrique Calle, alias “Comba,” who took over
drug trafficking operations in a large part
of southwestern Colombia after the killing
of Wilber Varela, alias “Jabon,” in
Venezuela last year.
“We’re talking about an organization in
Colombia linked to the kingpin known by the
alias ‘Comba,’” said Naranjo, adding that
“it is probably the payment for cocaine
shipments that left Colombia and entered
Mexico and probably wound up in the United
States.”
The money found on Wednesday was in
containers located in Buenaventura,
Colombia’s main port on the Pacific.
Last week, Colombian police found a total of
$22.4 million in a shipment of ammonium
sulfate from the Mexican port of Manzanillo
that arrived at the port of Buenaventura.
Colombian police said they are convinced the
money represents proceeds from drug
trafficking operations and that Manzanillo
and Buenaventura are key points of a route
for smuggling cocaine northward to Mexico
and then on to the United States, as well as
for sending cash in the opposite direction.
Colombia is the world’s largest producer of
cocaine and Buenaventura is a major port
through which drugs are clandestinely
shipped. EFE
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