This article was translated and reposted from ZETA TIJUANA
WRITTEN BY: CARLOS ALVAREZ ACEVEDO
The Spanish National Police reported on November 9, 2024 that it arrested an alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel and 15 other people in an operation to dismantle two methamphetamine and cocaine production laboratories, located in the municipalities of Palomeque and Méntrida, in the province of Toledo, respectively.
According to the Spanish institution, in an informative card, the agents seized 125 kilos of cocaine base, six and a half kilos of methamphetamine, about 31 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride, 7,500 liters of precursors and more than 21,000 euros (about 22,500 dollars), in several searches carried out in Madrid and Toledo.
Of the 16 people arrested, 15 were remanded in custody. Among them was a chemist from the Sinaloa Cartel, who allegedly worked for “Los Chapitos”, “Los Menores” and/or “Los Chiquillos”, as Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar, “El Chapito”, and his brothers are known, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, alias “El Güero Moreno” and/or “El Alfredillo”, as well as Joaquín and Ovidio Guzmán López, “El Ratón”, all sons of Sinaloa drug lord Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, “El Chapo”.
According to the Spanish National Police, the alleged member of the Sinaloa Cartel moved from Mexico to “try to expand his influence in Spain. It also explained that the operation began in July 2024, after detecting a drug trafficking point in Yuncos, Toledo, where there was an unusual movement of people and vehicles.
Surveillance by the Spanish authorities led to the identification of the members of the criminal organization, although locating the laboratories was particularly difficult, as they were located in isolated places and those under investigation took many precautions.
According to the Spanish National Police, the methamphetamine laboratory was located in Palomeque, where a large quantity of liquids and reagents were delivered and previously cooled at intermediate points until their final transfer. Meanwhile, the Méntrida laboratory was located in an isolated “macro” farm that was very difficult to access.
On the other hand, on the same day, November 7, 2024, the Ministry of National Defense arrested José Enrique “N”, alias “El Fantasma” or “El Güero Huachicol”, alleged head of the Sinaloa Cartel in Monterrey, Nuevo León, in the Cumbres Élite Cuarto Sector neighborhood, in Monterrey, Nuevo León.
The National Intelligence Fusion Center (CENFI), which is part of the National Intelligence Center (CNI) and in coordination with the Nuevo Leon Civil Force (FCNL), was able to locate “El Fantasma” during surveillance patrols, accompanied by seven people on board two vehicles.
All of them were arrested by the police authorities in flagrante delicto, securing drugs, four firearms, four magazines, 36 cartridges and two vehicles, after National Guard and Mexican Army personnel “provided peripheral security”.
According to a press release from the Defense Department, “El Fantasma” was considered to be the head of the plaza and the main generator of violence in the municipalities of Santa Catarina and García, N.L. for the self-styled Sinaloa Cartel criminal organization.
“The detainees and the seized items were handed over to the State Attorney General’s Office in Monterrey to determine their legal status and continue with the expert investigations to confirm the characteristics of the weapons and quantity of drugs; these activities were carried out in strict compliance with the rule of law and with full respect for human rights,” explained SEDENA.
According to local media reports, the detainees were identified as José and Raúl, aged 41; Mauricio, aged 27; Georgina, aged 28; Carlos, aged 22; Trinidad, aged 24; Ramiro, aged 29; and Karla, aged 36. They were all driving a white GMC Yukon pick-up truck and a white Nissan Versa.
