Mexican General Is Among 12 Indicted in Huge Coke Sting

An ambitious sting operation that called for undercover U.S. drug agents to pay $27 million for 5 tons of cocaine led this week to the indictment of a Mexican Army general, a former Mexican Army colonel and 10 others, U.S. officials said Friday.

In a press conference held in the U.S. Attorney’s office and attended by federal prosecutors and agents from U.S. Customs and the Drug Enforcement Administration, the officials said the arrests smashed a cartel capable of importing as much as 86 tons of the drug annually into the United States.

The five-month investigation culminated with the arrest Thursday of four Mexicans and three Bolivians in the parking lot of an Alpha Beta market in La Jolla where they had been lured with the prospect of $1.5 million in cash to seal the deal. Five other alleged conspirators are still abroad and U.S. officials are pessimistic about their chances for extradition.

Posed As Drug Smugglers

To set up the sting, U.S. agents posed as representatives of an American drug-smuggling ring and met with real smugglers aboard yachts, at a Panamanian yacht club and in the Panamanian jungle to negotiate the drug deal. Officials said Bolivian cocaine suppliers with their own air force and clandestine landing strips agreed to sell the American undercover agents 5 tons of cocaine for $27 million cash.

As part of the deal, Mexican Army Gen. Poblano Silva allegedly offered to block an isolated highway in the Mexican state of Puebla so an airplane carrying the cocaine to the United States from Bolivia could refuel. The general and other Mexican officials demanded a payment of $1 million for every 1,000 kilos of smuggled cocaine in exchange for this “official protection.”

DEA Special Agent Charlie Hill said that no drugs were exchanged during the sting. Neither was any money exchanged, though agents showed the alleged conspirators large amounts of cash before the arrests Thursday.

Hill said the deal was negotiated with a Bolivian drug ring known as “The Corporation” and headed by Pato (Negro) Pizarro.

According to the indictment unsealed Friday, a U.S. government informant posing as a representative of the fictitious American drug ring saw 16 drug laboratories, each with its own airstrip; numerous aircraft and communications facilities allegedly controlled by The Corporation during a December visit to Bolivia.

The informant also allegedly saw about 175,000 pounds of cocaine waiting to be shipped from the airstrips. According to Hill, Pizarro’s drug operation is capable of making 200 pounds of cocaine a day, and The Corporation can make 86 tons of the drug annually. Hill and U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez said the drug ring smuggled the cocaine to the United States.

May Put ‘Dent’ in Market

The DEA estimates 150 tons of cocaine are consumed in the United States each year and Hill said the arrests would put “a dent” in the amount of the drug being smuggled. But Hill later said, “I’m certainly not making the statement that we’re cutting the (cocaine) supply in half.”

Hill said that U.S. officials received “outstanding” cooperation from Panamanian and Bolivian officials during the 5-month investigation. But the indictment said that the Bolivian smugglers bragged about having ties to the Bolivian government and military.

Nunez said that no attempt was made to involve Mexican officials in the investigation and used the occasion to warn about pervasive corruption among Mexican government, police and military officials. Customs Special Agent Kenneth Ingleby charged that the “corruption of Mexican officials facilitates the flow of drugs” into the United States.

Began in September

According to U.S. officials, the sting began Sept. 2, when Pablo Giron, a Mexican citizen, met with a U.S. government informant in San Diego and said he had access to unlimited quantities of cocaine. Nineteen days later Giron, Hector Manuel Alvarez Brumel, a Mexican citizen, and Efren Mendez Duenas, a Mexican citizen living in Bolivia, met in San Diego with the informant and two undercover agents from U.S. Customs and the DEA.

The six men discussed the purchase of “multiton” quantities of cocaine at $5,500 per kilo. Discussions continued the next day at a La Jolla hotel and aboard a yacht owned by the customs service for undercover work, the indictment said. On Oct. 24, Giron suggested to the informant that Mexican officials could provide protection and arrange for planes to land in Mexico to refuel while ferrying the cocaine from Bolivia to the United States.

A series of meetings followed in November and December, in such diverse places as the Balboa Yacht Club in Panama City, the Panamanian jungle, at a Bolivian ranch and at several hotels in Mexico City and Panama. In Panama, a man identified only as Reperto was picked to serve as the money launderer for $5 million that the U.S. agents agreed to pay as a down payment for the $27 million deal.

At a Dec. 26 meeting in Mexico City, Mexican Army Col. Jorge Carranzas met with the informant to tell him that Gen. Silva would block off part of the Puebla highway so the plane loaded with cocaine could refuel in exchange for $1 million. The first flight was supposed to carry only one ton of the drug, Hill said.

Ties to Mexican Officials

According to the indictment, Giron and Alvarez Brumel have ties to the Mexican Federal Judicial Police. The indictment alleges that the pair said they would use their contacts with various Mexican police agencies, including the Federal Directorate of National Security and Mexican Army to facilitate the drug operation.

On Dec. 28, Col. Carranzas met with the U.S. informant at a Mexico City hotel to say that Gen. Silva was demanding $500,000 in cash immediately and another $500,000 when the plane landed and refueled.

Some of the Mexicans and Bolivians involved in the deal were lured to San Diego this week to seal the deal and receive down payments on behalf of Gen. Silva and the Bolivian traffickers, said Customs Agent Joseph A. Robles in an affidavit that accompanied the indictments.

According to Hill, Col. Carranzas, Giron and Alvarez Brumel were arrested Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the supermarket parking lot in La Jolla after agreeing to accept $500,000 in cash for Gen. Silva. At the press conference, Hill said that the DEA office in Mexico City had informed him that Carranzas was no longer in the military. Although Carranzas allegedly attended some of the drug meetings in uniform, Hill said he did not know when he left the Mexican Army.

Thirty minutes after the Mexicans were arrested, the Bolivians, led by Mendez Duenas, arrived to seal their end of the bargain and were arrested after agreeing to accept $1 million in cash as a partial down payment.

The Bolivians arrested were Jorge Roman Salas, Mario Vargas Bruun and Rolando Antonio Ayala. Also named in the indictment but not in custody are Gen. Silva, Mexican Army Lt. Col. Salvador de la Vega and Bolivians Pizarro, Winston Rodriguez and Reperto.

The complaint and the indictment accuses the 12 of conspiring to import cocaine and possess cocaine with intent to distribute. The penalty for conviction on the drug conspiracy charges could bring life terms in prison and $4 million fines.

Salas and Mendez Duenas were identified by U.S. officials as being the “principal administrators” of Pizarro’s drug ring, which they estimate grosses more than $10 million a year. Both were charged with engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.