Friday, February 12, 2010

Undercover Police Women Infiltrated Pilot Cartel To Get Crucial Intelligence

(Photo: Colombian National Police)

12 undercover policewomen befriended and seduced members of the Pilot Cartel for intelligence leading to the cocaine drug bust of the decade

By H. Nelson Goodson
February 12, 2010

Bogotá, Colombia - A news report by the Caracol TV says that police sources revealed intelligence information about the smuggling operation of the Pilot Cartel, which helped shut down air shipments of cocaine. Authorities in Colombia and the U.S. DEA trained and used a dozen undercover policewomen for more than six months to befriend, seduce and infiltrate the Pilot Cartel.
They were part of "Operation Frontiers" a coordinated international law enforcement operation involving 35 separate units of more than 80 undercover special agents from both the U.S. DEA, North Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas Task Force, the Colombian National Police, the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District Office in Dallas, Texas and the Colombian Attorney General's Office.
The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) is a program that enhances and coordinates drug control efforts among local, State, and Federal law enforcement agencies. The program provides agencies with coordination equipment, technology, and additional resources to combat drug trafficking and its harmful consequences in critical regions of the United States.(Whitehouse)
21 suspects, including 12 pilots were arrested in Colombia. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Dallas were able to get a Plano grand jury to indict 25 suspects in October and the indictments were unsealed on February 5. The Colombian suspects were charged in the U.S. District, Eastern District Court of Texas with manufacturing, transporting and distribution of a controlled substance, cocaine. If convicted, each suspect is facing life in federal prison.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The indictments of the suspects have not been posted in the U.S. Attorney's Office website as of yet, but the indictments were unsealed in early February, according to John M. Bales United States Attorney.
The suspects will be extradicted from Colombia to face multiple charges in Texas. Authorities have seized 7 1/2 tons of cocaine and $4.25 million in assets.
The undercover policewomen were selected for being attractive and sexy looking women. They frequent a nightclub where members of the Pilot Cartel used to hang out. The women were able to get vital information on flight schedules, drug shipment drops and were given access to photographs of planes, including other items.
Two of the pilots detained had told the undercover policewomen who were their buyers and how they would destroy some of the planes. The pilots also told the women about a trip to Mexico and Central America, which the women would pass the information to officers nearby, who later would confirm through flight plans. The pilots would tell the women that they earned more than $1 million dollars a year.
Police uniform officers were always nearby to provide support in case something went wrong, but they were trained so well that none of them were ever in danger. The undercover policewomen (la bella docena con placas, the beautiful dozen with a badge) are credited for their success in helping to shut down the Pilot Cartel. The pilot's arrest and decommissioning between 15-25 planes is causing a ripple effect by stopping air shipments of cocaine to other drug cartels. Colombian National Police General Óscar Naranjo said on Monday that Operation Frontiers was the largest drug bust in a decade and has cut the cocaine flow to drug cartels in Mexico and other countries.
Authorities are expected to detained 16 more suspects involved in the Pilot Drug Cartel.
Last Monday, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (U.S. DEA) and the Colombian National Police executed search and arrest warrants under a two year secret Operation Frontiers. The operation was so well kept a secret that none of the 21 suspects taken into custody for alleged manufacturing, transporting and distribution of 5-6 tons of cocaine weekly from Columbia to 10 countries had any idea they were the targets. 12 pilots and 9 other accomplices were arrested for operating the Pilot Cartel.
They transported by private planes tons of cocaine to the cartels in Colombia, and two Mexican cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel, and the cocaine would then eventually end up in the U.S. María Patricia Rodríguez Monsalve, 38, aka "La Señora" or "La Doctora", herself a pilot is considered a partner and cocaine supplier for Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán known drug lord of the Sinaloa Cartel. Rodríguez Monsalve is the first woman detained by authorities to lead a drug cartel.
Rodríguez Monsalve's operations was the infrastructure for the Maximiliano Bonilla aka "Valenciano", Danie Barrera aka "El Loco Barrera", and the Javier Antonio and Luis Enrique Calle brothers, known as "Los Comba" (the gang).
Rodríguez Monsalve was arrested along with other five suspects known to operate the Pilot Drug Cartel. They handled flight smuggling operations from Rodriguez Monsalve private properties that were turned into clandestine air fields connecting air routes from the Pacific, Central America to Mexico, and then the drugs would get smuggled into the U.S.

Caracol TV news clip about undercover policewomen who infiltrated the Pilot Drug Cartel (Spanish): http://bit.ly/bhgOek

For an online copy of the unsealed February 5, 2010 federal indictment by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Eastern District Court of Texas is posted at ketknbc.com: http://bit.ly/aVupfV

Related article:

Drug bust of the decade: U.S. DEA & Colombian National Police stop air shipments of 5-6 tons of cocaine weekly to 10 countries http://bit.ly/awsorH

(Sources: narcotraficoenmexico.blogspot.com, elespectador.com, Caracol TV, Televisa and Columbian National Police)

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