On December 7, 2021, Colombian authorities detained 11 members of a narcotrafficking ring connected to the Clan del Golfo. The criminals were in charge of coordinating the transport of cocaine from the coasts of the Chocó department to Panama, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, the Colombian Office of the Attorney General reported on its website.
“This illegal network contacted boatmen and paid them to carry the stashes [of drug] hidden among food, fuel, or tourists. In doing so, they tried to evade the authorities’ controls,” the Office of the Attorney General added.
This operation was in addition to the November 19 capture of 90 criminals from the Clan del Golfo, the Colombian site El Espectador reported. In eight days, authorities carried out 65 simultaneous raids in 23 municipalities in seven departments, the newspaper added.
“We’ve structurally impacted all the components of the Clan del Golfo, such as combatants, financiers, the narcotrafficking structure, and logistics,” Colombian Attorney General Francisco Barbosa told the press. “This result helped clarify 27 homicides that took place in Cesar, Bolívar and Córdoba [departments].”
Those captured were charged with homicide, forced disappearance, drug manufacture and transport, manufacture and possession of a firearm, and extortion and aggravated conspiracy to commit crimes, El Espectador reported.
“The presence of the Clan del Golfo in Central America includes El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Guatemala, countries where [authorities] have seized large amounts of drugs,” El Espectador said. “According to the Police, the way this organization operates outside of Colombia is through alliances with cartels, especially five of them: Jalisco New Generation and Sinaloa (Mexico), Calabrian and Sicilian mafia (Italy) and the Balkans (Europe).”