Thread: U.S. Targets Powerful, Profitable "Super Cartel" U

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2010

U.S. Targets Powerful, Profitable "Super Cartel"

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

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.

On one raid in eastern Colombia, Colombian police, prosecutors and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents captured one of the top three kingpins of the super cartel, a man known as "Don Claudio." (CBS)
.(CBS) The U.S. government has indicted and arrested most of the top tier of the largest Colombian drug trafficking organization in history, CBS News Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent 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.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/ ... rPromoArea

Oh, I thought it was going to be about the Federal Reserve or Bildebergers.

Mexico should be added to the list of countries that are an AXIS FOR EVIL!!!!

I.C.E. News Release

June 18, 2010

ICE takes down billion-dollar Colombian drug trafficking organization

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.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Friday, June 18, 2010
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100618eldorado.htm