Colombian narco-trafficker Richard Mosquera Mosquera, who is known as “Pipe,” faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after he pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on November 25 to conspiring to traffic and distribute at least five kilograms of cocain
Colombian narco-trafficker Richard Mosquera Mosquera, who is known as “Pipe,” faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after he pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on November 25 to conspiring to traffic and distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
Under U.S. federal sentencing guidelines, Pipe, 44, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years incarceration, and a maximum of life in prison. Federal law enforcement authorities did not immediately announce his sentencing date. A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida indicted him on June 12, 2013.
Pipe and other members of an international drug trafficking organization trafficked large amounts of cocaine into the United States from 2009 through 2012, according to U.S. federal court documents. He filled boats on San Andres Island, Colombia, with cocaine, and arranged for them to transport their cargo to Honduras. There, Pipe paid as much as US $500,000 for the drugs, which he then transported north to the United States. At times, he placed the cash he paid for the drugs on the same boat which transported the cocaine to Honduras. A fellow drug organization operative would pilot the money and the boat back to Colombia.
Pipe was also in charge of distributing the cocaine in the United States, according to his plea agreement with the U.S. government.
Agents with Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) captured Pipe in Colombia in November 2013, and Colombian law enforcement officials later extradited him to the U.S.
Mexican Federal Police seize more than 5,600 kilograms of marijuana
Mexican Federal Police (PF) seized more than 5,600 kilograms of marijuana and captured four suspects in the states of Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí, the National Security Commission reported on November 26. FP agents said the marijuana was worth about 14 million pesos, or $1 million (USD).
In Nuevo León, they searched a truck at a highway checkpoint and found 3,135 kilograms of marijuana inside 595 packages. PF agents arrested the driver, who was carrying document showing he was transporting prescription drugs.
During a separate traffic stop in San Luis Potosí, a PF officer found 2,537 kilograms of marijuana hidden inside a truck carrying alfalfa. Three suspects were arrested.
Colombian contraband trade generates big profits
Organized crime groups are smuggling a wide array of contraband into Colombia — including cattle, home appliances, whiskey, and clothing — to launder drug profits. Criminal enterprises often use drug profits to “buy” these and other items in Colombia, as a method of legitimizing the cash.
The contraband trade is worth about $6 billion a year, according to estimates by the Colombian federal government. Organized crime groups are widening their methods to launder dirty drug cash in response to Colombian law enforcement initiatives to crack down on money laundering in the financial sector.
“We are taking about something that has mutated,” said Gen. Gustavo Moreno, director of Colombia’s Tax and Customs Police (POLFA), according to insightcrime.org
. “The contraband trade is not what it used to be – moving goods from one country to another without paying taxes or tariffs. Today it is a true (criminal) instrument used not just by drug traffickers, but also arms traffickers, human traffickers, extortionists, and narco-terrorists.”
Organized crime groups began moving away from putting their drug money in banks in 2008, after the Colombian government created a new system for identifying suspicious transactions in banks and other financial institutions, according to Luis Suarez, the director of Colombia’s Financial Investigations and Analysis Unit (UIAF).
Colombian narco-trafficker Richard Mosquera Mosquera, who is known as “Pipe,” faces a maximum sentence of life in prison after he pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court on November 25 to conspiring to traffic and distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine into the United States.
Under U.S. federal sentencing guidelines, Pipe, 44, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years incarceration, and a maximum of life in prison. Federal law enforcement authorities did not immediately announce his sentencing date. A federal grand jury in Tampa, Florida indicted him on June 12, 2013.
Pipe and other members of an international drug trafficking organization trafficked large amounts of cocaine into the United States from 2009 through 2012, according to U.S. federal court documents. He filled boats on San Andres Island, Colombia, with cocaine, and arranged for them to transport their cargo to Honduras. There, Pipe paid as much as US $500,000 for the drugs, which he then transported north to the United States. At times, he placed the cash he paid for the drugs on the same boat which transported the cocaine to Honduras. A fellow drug organization operative would pilot the money and the boat back to Colombia.
Pipe was also in charge of distributing the cocaine in the United States, according to his plea agreement with the U.S. government.
Agents with Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) captured Pipe in Colombia in November 2013, and Colombian law enforcement officials later extradited him to the U.S.
Mexican Federal Police seize more than 5,600 kilograms of marijuana
Mexican Federal Police (PF) seized more than 5,600 kilograms of marijuana and captured four suspects in the states of Nuevo León and San Luis Potosí, the National Security Commission reported on November 26. FP agents said the marijuana was worth about 14 million pesos, or $1 million (USD).
In Nuevo León, they searched a truck at a highway checkpoint and found 3,135 kilograms of marijuana inside 595 packages. PF agents arrested the driver, who was carrying document showing he was transporting prescription drugs.
During a separate traffic stop in San Luis Potosí, a PF officer found 2,537 kilograms of marijuana hidden inside a truck carrying alfalfa. Three suspects were arrested.
Colombian contraband trade generates big profits
Organized crime groups are smuggling a wide array of contraband into Colombia — including cattle, home appliances, whiskey, and clothing — to launder drug profits. Criminal enterprises often use drug profits to “buy” these and other items in Colombia, as a method of legitimizing the cash.
The contraband trade is worth about $6 billion a year, according to estimates by the Colombian federal government. Organized crime groups are widening their methods to launder dirty drug cash in response to Colombian law enforcement initiatives to crack down on money laundering in the financial sector.
“We are taking about something that has mutated,” said Gen. Gustavo Moreno, director of Colombia’s Tax and Customs Police (POLFA), according to insightcrime.org
. “The contraband trade is not what it used to be – moving goods from one country to another without paying taxes or tariffs. Today it is a true (criminal) instrument used not just by drug traffickers, but also arms traffickers, human traffickers, extortionists, and narco-terrorists.”
Organized crime groups began moving away from putting their drug money in banks in 2008, after the Colombian government created a new system for identifying suspicious transactions in banks and other financial institutions, according to Luis Suarez, the director of Colombia’s Financial Investigations and Analysis Unit (UIAF).