The logistics involved to move the 9.8 tons of cocaine seized on 5 December 2024 by the National Drug Control Agency at the Caucedo Multimodal Port were meticulously designed by a drug trafficking network, El Dia reports. An empty container was sent from Guatemala to be filled with the cocaine shipment that arrived in the Dominican Republic from South America, destined for Antwerp, Belgium, the main entry point for narcotics into Europe.
Honduran authorities confirmed that the container, identified by the serial number HLBU9354083, arrived empty at the Santo Tomás de Castilla port in Guatemala and was then transferred to Puerto Barrios, also in that country. It was subsequently loaded onto the ship Scorpius bound for the Punta Caucedo multimodal pier in the Dominican Republic.
The Santo Tomás de Castilla port is a major commercial and container operations center, primarily designed for handling general cargo, containers, and bulk cargo, making it one of the most modern in Guatemala.
Located about two kilometers from Puerto Barrios, the two ports are practically contiguous and can be reached in about 20 minutes. The latter port is used primarily for shipping bananas and other agricultural products.
The drugs being transshipped at Punta Caucedo were being disguised among boxes of bananas.
The Honduran Directorate of the Merchant Marine confirms that during this journey, the ship made a stop at Puerto Cortés, but that the container in question was not unloaded.
The same authorities confirmed that the container in question was to be transshipped to the Antwerp port terminal in Belgium.
It was precisely during this transshipment process that the Dominican Republic-based network structure was caught red-handed while transferring the drugs to the container that had been shipped from Guatemala.
The Central Information and Joint Coordination Center (CICC) unit of the National Drug Control Agency (DNCD) detected an unusual movement of people transferring sacks with brick-shaped packages from one container to the HLBU9354083 container that had been shipped from Guatemala.
The container from which the sacks with the cocaine packages were being unloaded was number FFAU454228, which had been taken to the Caucedo Port on the same day of the seizure, Thursday, 5 December 2024, in a truck bearing authorization to enter the port facility. This was the first container to be intercepted by anti-narcotics agents.
The CICC unit was reinforced by the Operations Directorate, the Tactical Reaction Directorate (DRT), the Transnational Anti-Narcotics Division (DTCN), and the DNCD Division in Boca Chica, along with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
This was a security measure to prevent the gang responsible for moving the cargo in Dominican territory from attempting violent action to recover the illicit merchandise.
In the first container, the one that had been taken to the port in a truck, 200 bales were found containing a total of 5,989 cocaine packages packed in the form of bricks weighing approximately one kilogram each.
Subsequently, agents proceeded to inspect the second container, to which the transfer was being made and detected 108 bales with similar characteristics to the previous ones.
A total of 3,598 cocaine packages were seized there, bringing the total seized that morning by the DNCD to 9,587 packages, the biggest blow to drug trafficking in the country’s history and one of the largest in the world.
The investigation has had to expand its international scope, as the cocaine transshipment was being carried out at a Dominican pier, which implies the existence of a powerful structure responsible for this mission.
The container to which the transfer was being made came from Guatemala, according to the customs VTL (Verification of Transit and Logistics), and it is estimated that its use as a transshipment point had been planned since its shipment, as those who would receive it in Belgium had to know where the drugs would arrive.
It also implies the existence of a structure in Belgium that would receive the cocaine to move it in the European market.
Similarly, investigations have had to be extended to other countries since the ship on which the refrigerated container carrying the drugs to Belgium arrived has frequent activities in Mexican Pacific ports, where the most powerful Aztec cartels have a strong presence. The investigators are certain that the drugs were produced in Colombia, which brings the investigation to five countries.
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El Dia
El Dia
Diario Libre
El Nacional
18 December 2024