“El Rafa” Captured in Bogota, Columbia

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Zeta

         Captured in Bogota ''El Rafa'', Mexican capo sent to Colombia by ''El Mayo'' Zambada
           
By: Carlo Alvarez

The Colombian Anti-narcotics Police carried out an operation on Saturday, April 13, in Bogotá, Colombia, in which they arrested alias "El Rafa", one of the most wanted Mexican drug traffickers by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol, for its acronym in English) and American intelligence agencies.

According to local media Noticias Caracol and El Tiempo, who reported the incident, "El Rafa" was captured while walking down a street in the center of the Colombian capital, and as he did not carry identification documents with him at the time of the capture, he asked the agents to take him to his Mercedez Benz vehicle, from which he extracted a false identity.

Special investigations of the Colombian Police, cited by local media, assure that "El Rafa" is the main emissary in Colombia of Ismael Zambada García, "El Mayo", leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, to whom he handled his business in the country South American.

            

Carlos Bueno, colonel of the Colombian Anti-narcotics Police, reported that "El Rafa" had escaped a police operation two years ago, and that while he was trying to arrange business for "El Mayo", the Mexican capo had acquired more than ten luxury properties and vehicles in the cities of Cartagena, Cali, Medellín and Bogotá.

"He continued investing in real estate, we know he made acquisitions of quite expensive real estate and this gave them transparency and legality to their money, product of the sale of cocaine," added Colonel Bueno, adding that "El Rafa" was one of the main links of Colombian organized crime with Mexican cartels.

According to Colonel Bueno, "El Rafa" got Mexican drug cartels of different types of drugs, mainly cocaine. It also handled routes that criminal groups had in the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico and the United States.

The colonel of the Colombian Anti-narcotics Police explained that the presence of Mexican drug lords in Colombia has increased in the last two years, adding 24 arrests in 2019 and 45 in 2018. "We understand that they have come to be part of the chain, they have come to contact the organizations, they themselves have come to verify the product, the cocaine they are buying, to be sent to Mexico later, "he explained.

"It has been alarming to see how these organizations have come to the country in order to verify the product, in order to make investments in the laboratories, make contacts, acquire the drug and verify quality. They are very well established in the area, they have territorial control and infrastructure, " said the colonel.

"In the last year we have about 25 citizens of Mexican nationality who have been caught or caught trafficking drugs in different modalities either as interns in the country's airports or also as members of drug trafficking organizations that acquire the drug and send it to Centro America and the United States, " Bueno added.

NOTE: Not one source I looked at used his full real name, I am still looking !