“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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A satanic altar, weapons, an elaborate surveillance system and images of demonic entities are some of the items that Colombian authorities found in the secluded luxury cabin where Patrick Schmitz ‘Patrick Smith’, a website management expert on the dark web who worked for the Gulf Clan and the Sinaloa Cartel, was hiding. Infobae reports indicate that Patrick would also be linked to the CJNG.
The German-born individual was in the sights of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and other United States agencies due to his activities linked to drug trafficking and money laundering for those criminal groups. Director General of the Colombian National Police General Salamanca Ramírez stated that Schmitz was arrested in compliance with an order issued by a District Court of New Jersey.
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Dark Web Coordinator
On Dark Web portals, Patrick Schmitz participated in the sale of cocaine and fentanyl, arms trafficking and distribution of child pornography, according to details from the Colombian National Police. He used methods such as Hawala, Espejo (Mirror) and/or Token to facilitate payments for illegal services between criminal organizations operating in Colombia, Central America and the United States.
In addition, he made illegal investments in Colombia to conceal the illicit income through the purchase of movable and immovable property and investments in the hotel sector, especially in tourist areas of Magdalena and La Guajira.
“Alias Patrick had a criminal network of collaborators who facilitated the shipment of narcotics to the United States by contaminating containers,” the police explained.
“He owned several portals on the Dark Web, with a high criminal reputation, through which he sold cocaine in North America in different presentations and sizes, child pornography, false documents, hacking services, synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and accessories to hide illegal information storage devices,” the Colombian National Police said in a statement.
Investigations also revealed that Schmitz frequented various hotels located in exclusive areas of the city of Santa Marta and in La Guajira, where he met with drug traffickers and investors to coordinate his illicit activities. He also “maintained a criminal network through professionals in accounting, business administration and law, who advised him to give the appearance of legality to the money from his illegal activities,” according to Colombian police.
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Undercover Takedown
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Authorities learned that some locations of the IP protocol for this user was on the Colombian Caribbean coast. Specialized intelligence and investigation activities carried out jointly by Colombian and United States authorities included, “specific queries were made regarding IP addresses, in order to establish and track the virtual sites that were being used by this individual to carry out his criminal activities through the dark internet.”
Police say that during one of the surveillance operations it was possible to obtain the alcoholic drink he had consumed from the trash to gather his fingerprints which were matched to that of Patrick Schmitz.
Based on the information gathered by the undercover police, it was established that he only communicated via “iPhone through iCloud applications, being prohibited from establishing communication through chat applications such as Threem, since according to the leader, they could be detected by the authorities.”
