Luxury Gulfstream III Cartel Narcojet Caught Flying Over 1 Tonne Of Cocaine Grounded In Guatemala
A luxury narcojet carrying over one tonne of cocaine and linked to a dangerous Mexican cartel has been seized in Guatemala after authorities forced it to land.
The luxury jet was transporting 1,028 kilogrammes (2,266 lbs) of cocaine with an estimated street value of USD 32 million (GBP 23.3 million) and it was seized in an operation that was the result of cooperation between the Colombian Attorney General’s Office and the American DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration).
The Colombian Attorney General’s Office and the DEA began working together after the discovery of a drug trafficking complex in the rural area around Tumaco, a port city and municipality in the Narino Department, in Colombia, giving out onto the Pacific Ocean, in June 2021.
The drugs were reportedly destined for alleged members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world.
The cocaine is said to have come from the border area with Venezuela, from FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army) dissidents, who smuggled it north, to Central America, where it was set to be received by contacts of the CJNG.
The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office is said to have warned about a Gulfstream III business jet carrying the shipment of cocaine that took off from a clandestine runway located in Venezuela, and the authorities subsequently detected the aircraft and forced it to land in the Guatemalan department of Peten.
The CJNG criminal organisation, headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, 55, commonly referred to by his alias El Mencho, has reportedly increased its presence in Central and South America, not only with the purchase and sale of merchandise in different countries, but also with the establishment of criminal routes, relations with international groups and the acquisition of criminal knowledge.
