Feral Jundi

     The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), estimated the cartel, named El Dorado, made $5 billion profit from their trade over the past few years.

     Agents involved in Operation Pacific Rim alleged on Friday that the gang trafficked cocaine to every continent except Antarctica, with drugs bound for Europe and Britain smuggled through Spain.

     They believe the gang were responsible for almost half of the cocaine on American streets, or more than 912 tonnes with an estimated street value of more than $24 billion.

*****

     This is stunning news, and I am floored that this is not getting the attention it deserves.  I know the whole McChrystal thing or the Gulf spill is hogging all the news right now, but this is some news of actual success in that other war we are fighting in.  This bust is like taking down the Walmart of cartels. We will see what players step up to fill that gap, but still, this is huge.

     That is the other part of this that is intriguing, and that is the second and third order effects from something like this.  Often when you kill the big dog, the dogs in the pack fight for the new position. They also kill off any traces of the old dog, just to establish pure dominance and the new command.  It is a brutal fight and there will always be an alpha dog that comes up from that process. So how ICE is able to take advantage of this chaos within the drug market will be interesting to watch. Stand by for some battles over that territory.

    I also think that the money taken in these raids should be going towards a bounty system, along with funding the law enforcement agencies involved. We should see way more money being offered in the reward programs, and the wanted list should also include way more people. It is also important to note that ICE does have a ‘prize‘ system in place within the the law enforcement realm.

    With the current arrangement at ICE, there is an incentive attached to the process of taking down these cartels.  ICE has a deal called the Asset Forfeiture/Equitable Sharing program. It is a way to reward police agencies that cooperate with ICE in their operations, and they basically get to ‘split the prize’. That can be a lot of money to split, and just look at the numbers in the quote up top! If this program was opened up to include ‘licensed’ and bonded companies or individuals, they too could take part in that prize system and this would dramatically expand the program.

     We already have the Rewards For Justice Program, yet only law enforcement agencies get to claim prizes after captures? I say open it up to private industry and lets get this business of eradicating drug cartels started. And believe me, there are plenty of drug cartels, terrorists, and pirates for militaries, police departments and private industry to go after.-Matt

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ICE takes down billion-dollar Colombian drug trafficking organization

June 18, 2010

DTO finances its illicit empire by sending cocaine all over the globe

In Operation Pacific Rim, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), working closely with the Colombian National Police and Mexican authorities, took down a major drug trafficking organization — an industrial and transportation empire with a profit margin in the billions. The drug kingpins operating out of Colombia wrestled with a vexing problem — they made so much money from illegal narcotics trafficking that they couldn’t launder it all.

In fact, tracking the cold hard cash is one of the specialties of ICE’s investigative directorate, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). HSI is the largest investigative agency within the Department of Homeland Security. HSI agents working with ICE Attaché offices in Bogota and elsewhere brought this giant among drug organizations to its knees. HSI began Operation Pacific Rim in September 2009 after scoring a previous victory in an investigation where they seized $41 million in Colombia and Mexico. This is often the case in federal law enforcement, with one case that tips investigators off to an even bigger fish to fry.

The case began when HSI and Colombian police intercepted a suspicious shipment of what was supposed to be fertilizer, but what in actuality turned out to be bundles of shrink-wrapped cash.

As investigators delved deeper into the case, even experienced agents marveled at the enormity and sophistication of this criminal enterprise.

“This drug trafficking organization (DTO) was a far cry from a few small-time hoodlums,” said James Dinkins, HSI Executive Associate Director. “These corrupt people were involved in murder, kidnapping and other forms of violence and lawlessness, but posed as legitimate business owners. They invested in apartment complexes and office buildings, yet they still had money to hide.”

Luis Agustin Caicedo Velandia, also known as “Don Lucho,” led this international enterprise of money launderers and drug traffickers who sent cocaine all over the globe.

Lucho earned the dubious distinction as a Consolidated Priority Organization Target (CPOT), a title law enforcement authorities use to signify narcotics traffickers who are believed to be the leaders of DTOs responsible for importing large quantities of narcotics into the United States.

“This case sends a warning to drug kingpins all over the world — they are never too big to fail,” said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. “In fact, this case proves that the drug trafficking organizations put themselves in a double bind. The larger their network of operations and the more illegal narcotics and cash that flow from their base of operations, the more clues are out there for ICE to trace back to them.”

The El Dorado Task Force of ICE’s HSI Directorate coordinated this investigation. This task force consists of 260 members from local, state and federal law enforcement, intelligence analysts and federal prosecutors. They target financial crime at all levels. Since its inception, the El Dorado Task Force has made more than 2,200 arrests and seized more than $600 million in illegal proceeds.

From ICE’s website.

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World’s biggest drugs ‘super cartel’ smashed by US authorities in Colombia

The world’s biggest drugs and money laundering “super cartel” in Colombia has been smashed by the American government, officials said.

By Andrew Hough18 Jun 2010

Anti-drug agents arrested and charged dozens of members of the powerful Colombian cartel, including two alleged major kingpins, after a series of raids across South America.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, (ICE), estimated the cartel, named El Dorado, made $5 billion (£3.37bn) profit from their trade over the past few years.

Agents involved in Operation Pacific Rim alleged on Friday that the gang trafficked cocaine to every continent except Antarctica, with drugs bound for Europe and Britain smuggled through Spain.

They believe the gang were responsible for almost half of the cocaine on American streets, or more than 912 tonnes with an estimated street value of more than $24 billion (£16.2 billion).

The drug cartels buy coca from Colombia’s peasant farmers for about £250 per pound. After being refined into cocaine, the same quantity can then be sold for about £15,000 in Europe.

They are alleged to have made so much money they could not launder it all, CBS News reported.

Among those arrested were “Don Claudio” in eastern Columbia and and Luis Agustin Caicedo Velandia, known as “Don Lucho”, who was captured in Argentina.

Both are now awaiting extradition back to the US. The lawyer for “Don Lucho” said that his client had no connections with drugs and was a Guatemalan businessman.

More than 260 agents from ICE, the American Homeland Security and Colombian and Mexican authorities are continuing their hunt for other cartel members.

The cartel is said to have operated sophisticated drugs labs in the country’s jungles, engaged ruthless hit men and used submarines to transport the drugs all over the world.

As investigators delved deeper into the case, even experienced agents were said to have “marveled at the enormity and sophistication” of the cartel.

“Their tentacles reach all over the globe,” one ICE agent, who declined to be named, told the American broadcasteR.

“It’s mind-boggling the kind of profit these guys were producing. They invest in businesses, big investments, apartment complexes, office buildings.

“But there’s so much left over that they have to do something with this cash. Sometimes all that’s left is to hoard it and hide it.”

He added: “”This case is not big – it’s huge.”

William Brownfield, the U.S. Ambassador to Colombia, said the operation began last September at Buenaventura, a busy Colombian port, after officials intercepted a suspicious fertilizer container that was later found with more than $28million (£19million) worth of shrink-wrapped cash.

John Morton, the ICE Assistant Secretary, said the case sent a warning to “drug kingpins all over the world(that) they are never too big to fail”.

“In fact, this case proves that the drug trafficking organizations put themselves in a double bind,” he said.

“The larger their network of operations and the more illegal narcotics and cash that flow from their base of operations, the more clues are out there for ICE to trace back to them.”

James Dinkins, the Homeland Security’s executive associate director added: “This drug trafficking organisation (DTO) was a far cry from a few small-time hoodlums.

“These corrupt people were involved in murder, kidnapping and other forms of violence and lawlessness, but posed as legitimate business owners. They invested in apartment complexes and office buildings, yet they still had money to hide.”

A Colombian government spokesman was unavailable for comment.

It is a significant boost to the American government’s high-profile war on drugs, after Barack Obama, the US President, announced a new push against central and South American drugs cartels.

He last year declared that US would confront the drug cartels that were “sowing chaos in our communities”.

It is also a significant victory for the Colombian government ahead of next week’s second round of the local presidential elections.

On Thursday, Antonio Maria Costa, the U.N. drug and crime czar warned that international crime syndicates posed a growing threat to global security.

She told a high-level General Assembly meeting in New York that demand for illegal drugs, diamonds and other items is fueling transnational organised crime.

Story here.

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U.S. Targets Powerful, Profitable “Super Cartel”

June 17, 2010

CBS News Exclusive: In War Against Colombian Cocaine Traffickers, U.S. Agents, Local Police Arrest Dons, Raid Jungle Labs

By Lara Logan

Colombian police and U.S. law enforcement have waged a war against “the super cartel” responsible for nearly half the Colombian cocaine on U.S. streets. Lara Logan reports.

For the past nine months, Colombian police and U.S. law enforcement have waged war against what they call “the super cartel,” an international money laundering and drug trafficking network more sophisticated – and more powerful – than anything they’d seen before and responsible for nearly half the Colombian cocaine on the streets of the United States.

That’s at least 912 tons over the past seven years with a street value of $24 billion.

“This case is- it’s not big,” an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – known as ICE – said on the condition of anonymity. “It’s huge.”

Operation Pacific Rim began last September at the sprawling, busy Colombian port, Buenaventura. Police and U.S. ICE agents intercepted a suspicious container of fertilizer.

Inside was shrink-wrapped bundles of cash.

“The word came in, $6 million, $8 million, still counting,” U.S. Ambassador to Colombia William Brownfield said.

They stopped at $28 million.

CBS News joined the Colombian police, prosecutors and U.S. ICE agents as they raided the super cartel’s jungle labs and arrested dozens of narcotics traffickers and hitmen.

On one raid in eastern Colombia, they captured one of the top three kingpins of the super cartel, a man known as “Don Claudio.” Another – “Don Lucho” – was arrested in Argentina, and the U.S. has requested his extradition.

“Their tentacles reach all over the globe,” the ICE agent said.

The super cartel’s cocaine was sent to every continent on Earth except Antarctica, from Colombia to the United States to Africa and to Europe.

The Colombian Coast Guard showed CBS News how they chase drug traffickers who use high speed boats to elude capture.

The super cartel even built a fleet of semi-submersibles for a million dollars each. They’re designed to be used just once to ferry tons of cocaine to Mexico.

“It’s mindboggling the kind of profit these guys were producing,” the anonymous ICE agent said.

The super cartel made more than $5 billion in profits, more money than even they could launder.

“They invest in businesses, big investments, apartment complexes, office buildings,” the ICE agent said. “But there’s so much left over that they have- they have to do something with this cash. Sometimes all that’s left is to hoard it and hide it.”

Columbian police and U.S. ICE agents are still hunting members of the super cartel, searching for their money and their drugs.

Story here.