Feds in South Texas confiscate two aircraft

By Jason Buch
February 23, 2016

Federal prosecutors in South Texas have won court cases to confiscate a pair of aircraft they alleged were tied to drug trafficking.

A judge in McAllen ruled last week that the government could take control of a helicopter that prosecutors said in court documents was kept in the name of a San Antonio businessman but was, in fact, owned by a high-ranking member of an unnamed Mexican drug cartel.

The businessman, Miguel Andrade, told the Express-News last year that he had allowed a customer to register two helicopters in his name, and that he went to the FBI after seeing one of them during TV reports about the arrest of Zetas’ drug cartel leader Omar Treviño Morales. No one showed up in court to fight the government’s lawsuit after the helicopter was seized in McAllen, and a federal judge issued a default judgment in favor of the government.

In the other case, prosecutors in Corpus Christi won a default judgment this week to forfeit an airplane seized in Brownsville they said was purchased with bribe money from the Zetas. Last year, a judge threw out ownership claims by Pablo Zarate Juarez, the former housing director for the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, and two companies he controlled because Zarate won’t come to the U.S. to face a criminal indictment.

Zarate has said he hasn’t committed any crimes. His lawyer said Tuesday that he’ll appeal the judge’s decision in the civil asset forfeiture lawsuit.

http://www.expressnews.com/news/loca...ft-6850261.php