9/4/2014
GUATEMALA CITY – Drug cartels from Colombia and Mexico have formed an alliance to produce designer drugs and cocaine in Guatemala that will later be smuggled into the United States, the Prensa Libre newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Drug traffickers are focusing on Guatemala because of its geographic location, the war being waged by the government on the cartels in Mexico and the increasingly global nature of the narcotics trade, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified source in the special drug enforcement prosecutor’s office.
Colombians supposedly trained in chemistry and biology have entered the Central American country to plan, design and build drug labs, as well as to teach people to produce synthetic drugs, Prensa Libre said.
The newspaper, however, did not identify the Colombian cartel involved in the Guatemalan venture.
The majority of the drug laboratories are run by Mexicans who belong to the Gulf, Sinaloa and Caballeros Templarios cartels, Prensa Libre said.
“It is more profitable for them to move the finished illegal product from Guatemala to their country (Mexico) since they have a presence in different regions of the territory, allowing them to operate with total impunity,” the newspaper said.
The special drug enforcement prosecutor’s office has determined that the raw materials for producing the drugs are being imported from different countries in Asia, Prensa Libre said.
The security forces have dismantled seven illegal drug labs so far this year in Huehuetenango and San Marcos provinces, and in Chimaltenango province, Retalhuleu province and Guatemala City.
Alliances between Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers are not new, National Economic Research Center (Cien) analyst Ronaldo Leiva told the newspaper.
“This is happening because the Mexican cartels took ownership of the distribution routes in Mexico after the death of (Medellin cartel leader) Pablo Escobar and the Colombians are focusing on the production of drugs, mainly cocaine,” Leiva said.
A drug lab was dismantled on Aug. 20 in Villa Canales, a city located south of the capital, following a shootout that resulted in the arrests of three Colombians and a Guatemalan, the Government Ministry said.
Firearms, 107 plastic barrels containing drug precursors, a mixer and a cooker used to produce synthetic drugs were seized.
source
GUATEMALA CITY – Drug cartels from Colombia and Mexico have formed an alliance to produce designer drugs and cocaine in Guatemala that will later be smuggled into the United States, the Prensa Libre newspaper reported on Tuesday.Drug traffickers are focusing on Guatemala because of its geographic location, the war being waged by the government on the cartels in Mexico and the increasingly global nature of the narcotics trade, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified source in the special drug enforcement prosecutor’s office.
Colombians supposedly trained in chemistry and biology have entered the Central American country to plan, design and build drug labs, as well as to teach people to produce synthetic drugs, Prensa Libre said.
The newspaper, however, did not identify the Colombian cartel involved in the Guatemalan venture.
The majority of the drug laboratories are run by Mexicans who belong to the Gulf, Sinaloa and Caballeros Templarios cartels, Prensa Libre said.
“It is more profitable for them to move the finished illegal product from Guatemala to their country (Mexico) since they have a presence in different regions of the territory, allowing them to operate with total impunity,” the newspaper said.
The special drug enforcement prosecutor’s office has determined that the raw materials for producing the drugs are being imported from different countries in Asia, Prensa Libre said.
The security forces have dismantled seven illegal drug labs so far this year in Huehuetenango and San Marcos provinces, and in Chimaltenango province, Retalhuleu province and Guatemala City.
Alliances between Colombian and Mexican drug traffickers are not new, National Economic Research Center (Cien) analyst Ronaldo Leiva told the newspaper.
“This is happening because the Mexican cartels took ownership of the distribution routes in Mexico after the death of (Medellin cartel leader) Pablo Escobar and the Colombians are focusing on the production of drugs, mainly cocaine,” Leiva said.
A drug lab was dismantled on Aug. 20 in Villa Canales, a city located south of the capital, following a shootout that resulted in the arrests of three Colombians and a Guatemalan, the Government Ministry said.
Firearms, 107 plastic barrels containing drug precursors, a mixer and a cooker used to produce synthetic drugs were seized.
source
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