Omar Treviño's aka Z-42 seized helicopter goes on sale, used to avoid detection by authorities

Sol Prendido Borderland Beat from ReporteIndigo

The helicopter of Omar Treviño Z-42, was placed on sale by the Mexican Government. Treviño  used the aircraft for his trips in within the republic to avoid being detected by the authorities

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador inaugurated yesterday the Aerospace Mexico Fair (Famex) 2019, an international meeting that will be used to conduct the second auction of federal government air vehicles.

Among the 72 planes and helicopters that the Federation will make available to individuals in the coming days, one of them was seized from Omar Treviño Morales, leader and founder of the Zetas cartel, in 2015. The aircraft has a value of 2.6 million USD.

It is an Agusta model A109S Grand helicopter, with serial number 22055 and year of manufacture 2007, currently in possession of the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic (PGR), as confirmed by Reporte Indigo sources.

On March 9, 2015, five days after the capture of the then leader of the criminal group in the state of Nuevo León, the federal authorities secured the helicopters in the hangars "Casa Verde" and the Aeropuerto del Norte, this in the municipalities of San Pedro Garza García and Apodaca, respectively.

The other aircraft - model A109S Grand - was returned to the PGR two years after the seizure, on March 30, 2017. This second helicopter, which Z-42 was the owner, was returned to the Attorney General's office through the DEV return certificate. / PGR / DRNE / DRNE / 0005/17/03 and will now be the object of a bid during the 2019 Famex.

In case the federal government manages to sell this aircraft, it could use the resources for social development, as it has announced, and set a positive precedent by using the confiscated assets of the criminal groups in favor of the citizenship, an action that remained pending in the past administrations.

Meanwhile, the model A109E Power, continues in the status of "depository" under the SAE, but will not participate in this week's auction of the federal government.

According to the aircraft sales page Controller.com an Agusta helicopter model A109S Grand of 2007, has an average cost of 2.6 million dollars. Meanwhile, the model A109E Power manufactured in 1999, sold from 1.2 million dollars in the international market.

Also, other pages such as Avbuyer.com and Aircraft24., they indicate that the most recent models of the same brand - which manufactured aircraft from 1996 to 2015 - can cost up to 3.2 million dollars.

STRATEGIC AIRCRAFT

The helicopters of Omar Treviño Morales were used for the trips of the drug trafficker in the interior of the Republic, without it being detected by the authorities of the administration,  then  President Enrique Peña Nieto.

However, on Wednesday, March 4, 2015, Z-42 was stopped in a joint operation of the Army and the Federal Police, in a residence of the Fuentes del Valle neighborhood of San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León.

At that time, the leader of the Zetas was one of the most wanted men in Mexico and the world, with a reward from the Mexican authorities equivalent to 30 million pesos for data that would allow their location and capture. Similarly, the US government, through the DEA, offered a reward of five million dollars for information of Z-42.

Z-42 was stopped in Nuevo Leon in 2015 by elements of the Army and the Federal Police, the FGR is the one who owns it nowadays

Since the death of the founder, Heriberto Lazcano "El Lazca" in October 2012, the Treviño Morales brothers took control of the criminal group, with Miguel Ángel, alias Z-40, who maintained the leadership of the Zetas until his arrest. in 2013. After this, his brother Omar assumed the power of the cartel, whose focus of operations was concentrated in the states of Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Veracruz.

The Zetas are indicated as the main responsible for the massacre of 72 migrants in the state of Tamaulipas in 2010 and the attack perpetrated a year later at the Casino Royale in the city of Monterrey, where 56 people were killed in a fire caused by members of the criminal group.

In addition, this criminal organization maintains active operations in Veracruz, a state where the confrontations against the Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generación (CJNG) have generated a climate of violence that is difficult to control.

IN SEARCH OF AUSTERITY

During his morning conference on Wednesday, President López Obrador was accompanied by the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresentcio Sandoval and by the general director of the National Bank of Works and Services (Banobras), Jorge Mendoza Sánchez.

Federal officials explained that the auction to be held this week at the Santa Lucia air base had a full protocol of organization in order to comply with the decree of Republican austerity promoted by the Executive.

It was reported that in a joint work with several government agencies, the 263 ships that make up the current fleet of the federal government were analyzed, with only 72 -33 aircraft and 39 helicopters- that could be put on sale during the 2019 Famex.

To determine the viability of the auctions, three criteria’s were used: that the aircraft were being used for the transfer of public officials, that they did not fulfill the functions of the programs or actions of the unit to which they belong and that they were not "vocation for the benefit "of the citizenship, this last category being the one that fits the helicopter of Z-42.

"We will be working on this process of alienation with the accompaniment of the United Nations (UN), and it is worth mentioning that last April 23 we signed the second agreement with this international organization, this to start the process of selling the ships ", Explained Mendoza Sánchez, who added that the market studies will be carried out with the respective appraisals, in order to achieve the identification of an adequate sales mechanism that will auction successfully in the coming days.

In the afternoon, during the opening ceremony of the 2019 Famex at the base of Santa Lucia, President Lopez Obrador explained that the decision to put on sale government aircraft and helicopters is in consideration of the principle of republican austerity, adding that in his administration "Luxuries and extravagances will not be allowed.

Similarly, detailed that from now on, public officials of the current government will have to transport in commercial aircraft, being the fleet of the Federation "exclusive" for the attention of citizens.