Ex OIJ agent faces trial for drug trafficking, money laundering in Nicaragua
Photo Credit: Prensa Libre de Nicaragua
An ex Judicial Investigation Organization (OIJ) agent, identified by the last names Castillo Santana, is facing trial in Nicaragua, on charges of organized crime, money laundering and drug trafficking.
The man was arrested during a police operation called “Domino,” in which a criminal organization believed to have been in operation since 1997 was dismantled in December of last year, according to the Nicaraguan press.
The trial is against Castillo and 22 others, and began on Monday in the 9th Court of the Penal District in Managua.
The ex-agent was arrested on December 4th, while he was travelling on a bus that contained 729 kilograms of cocaine.
According to charges filed by the Nicaraguan Public Ministry – which are against 49 people, though only 23 are on trial as the rest were able to flee – the Costa Rican man was an assistant on the “drug bus,” which was driven by a Nicaraguan man by the last names Diaz Orozco.
In the investigation, Castillo was found to be living in a luxury home in the “Gaspar Garcia Laviana” neighborhood in Rivas, Nicaragua.
This is not the first time that Castillo has faced legal problems related to drug trafficking. In 2003, while he was still an OIJ agent, he was arrested on the Nicaraguan border for the same crime. At the time, he was carrying 40 kilograms of cocaine.
When he was arrested in Nicaragua, he had only been free a little more than a year since his release from prison.
Besides Castillo there are two more foreigners, a man from Honduras identified as Enoc Hernandez Villeda and a Guatemalan man known as Oscar Casasola.
According to Nicaraguan newspapers, only 10 of the 90 prosecution witnesses have testified so far, of which 5 are police officers. The witnesses are testifying with their faces covered as a security measure.
Nicaraguan authorities have confiscated 10 hotels, 2 local cable television companies, six boats, about 100 trucks, various estates, livestock and other assets owned by members of the criminal organization.
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