A Conviasa plane seen from the Simón Bolívar International Airport, Maiquetía. Photo: RedRadioVE/File photo.
This weekend, Venezuelan authorities inflicted a heavy blow to international narcotrafficking criminal organizations, seizing three tons of cocaine that were intended to be sent to Afghanistan from the Simón Bolívar International Airport, located in Maiquetía, La Guaira state. Investigations are ongoing. Thus far, 13 people have been arrested.
According to the report of the Special Anti-Drug Unit No. 45, the arrested individuals were handed over to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where a file was opened against them for illicit drug trafficking.
The arrested citizens are: Charlie Jose Colon Santoyo, Carlos Jesus Colon Santoyo, Jesus Eduardo Salcedo Ruiz, Joangel Enrique Anton Sepulveda, Alexis Alexander Sepulveda Cobaria, Conception Child Torres, Roger Alfredo Vergara Perez, Eliaxis Joshua Nava Rodriguez, Alexander Nehomar Santalis, Yuisay Yaneiza Ramirez Pinto, Barbara Gislaine Duran Aldama, Mario Ricardo Prado Medina, and Daniel Alfonso Arevalo Chirinos.
Planned plot
Telesur journalist Madelein García explained in a video that it was a planned plot to create the perception that Venezuelan authorities are involved in criminal operations, since the plane to be used belonged to the state-owned airline Conviasa.
Russia was also to be smeared, because the aircraft would arrive there, as well as Turkey, since through Turkish Airlines, the cargo would be taken to Afghanistan. The idea, according to the journalist, was to associate these countries with this international drug trafficking crime that actually originated in Colombia.
García explained that the drug was packed using the branding of the company Comercializadora Café El Faraón, whose owner is Venezuelan and named Juan Daniel Sepúlveda Quintero. He fled to Colombia, where he is also a partner in another coffee exporting company, Rasgos.
The three tons of drugs left Norte de Santander and arrived in Venezuela through illegal trails alongside a Venezuelan product, El Faraón coffee, which supposedly had its permits in order. Upon arriving at the Maiquetía airport customs, the authorities of the Bolivarian National Guard began to analyze the batch with the corresponding protocols and discovered that it was not an aromatic coffee but cocaine.
Fake news about the president of EMTRASUR
Conviasa Cargo’s manager, who is also the president of EMTRASUR, Commander César Pérez, was responsible for notifying Venezuelan authorities of the irregularity. Then, an investigation began in which he is a witness.
Minister of Transport Ramón Velásquez Araguayán stated that an attempt was made to manufacture fake news that implicated Commander Pérez in this drug trafficking plot.
“Through criminal social media platforms, they are trying to position fake news indicating that the president of EMTRASUR, a subsidiary of Conviasa, is detained,” Velásquez wrote in a public statement. “The correct information is that, thanks to the timely intervention of the Bolivarian National Guard, the shipment of three tons of cocaine, camouflaged in coffee packages, from Colombia, was thwarted.”
“The criminal gang with tentacles in the Colombian Coffee company Rasgo aspired to fill a CONVIASA plane with three tons of cocaine, in coffee packages, to take them to Russia and then use a Turkish Cargo plane to take it to Afghanistan,” added the minister of transport. “They are criminal minds who dream of harming the people of Venezuela. They have not been able to, nor will they be able to!”
(RedRadioVE) by Victoria Torres with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
