In Mexico, drug trafficking criminal organizations often use high-end vehicles and trucks that they modify with homemade armor. These units are used during armed confrontations with authorities or opposing groups.
Such is the case of the Sinaloa Cartel, which maintained ties with a United States criminal network dedicated to car theft in the city of Denver, Colorado.
On December 9, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann announced an indictment against 17 people involved in this criminal network, who participated in the theft of 190 vehicles between September 2022 and February 2024.
The indictment, consulted by Infobae Mexico, includes 222 charges for car theft, drug possession, identity theft, criminal possession of financial devices, and violations of the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act.
Investigations indicate that the vehicles were stolen from Denver International Airport, as well as from hotel parking lots and other locations in Colorado. Among the nearly 200 stolen units were 45 Ford Raptor trucks and 10 Ram TRXs.
This criminal network sold the stolen vehicles to criminal organizations in Mexico. Agent David Olesky, of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Rocky Mountain Field Division, indicated that one of them was the Sinaloa Cartel.
“Our DEA agents were able to link this group to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the most powerful organizations based in Mexico, notably responsible for trafficking fentanyl and methamphetamine into our nation,” said Agent Olesky.
Denver authorities learned that the Sinaloa Cartel used drugs as a bargaining chip to acquire the stolen trucks, which they modified with special armor. These narcotics were then distributed in the United States.
“It is alleged that the defendants coordinated the transportation of stolen motor vehicles to Mexico, where they were often delivered to members of drug cartels in exchange for cocaine and methamphetamine that were then imported into the United States and taken to Denver,” said prosecutor McCann in a statement.
Programmers, buyers and drivers
The indictment states that the members of this criminal network were classified as programmers, buyers and drivers. Each of them was assigned a task related to the theft of vehicles.
The programmers were dedicated to stealing late-model trucks from hotel and business parking lots, as well as from Denver International Airport. They also used these same vehicles to steal other vehicles. Among the defendants involved in these activities are Vania Bauer Rivera, Oscar Delgadillo Chavez, Juan Herrera and Yulian Zamarron Baylon.
The buyers, as their name suggests, were in charge of acquiring stolen vehicles to later offer them to the Sinaloa Cartel and Mexican citizens. The main buyer of this network was identified as Joaquín Orozco Ponce, alias ‘Adrián Trocas’.
“Mr. Orozco Ponce coordinated the sales and transfers of vehicles from Colorado to Mexico with members of the company in Texas and Mexico, including Daniel Sotelo, Francisco Domínguez-Cruz, Emmanuel Sánchez and Javier Tapia-López,” the indictment states.
Source: infobae
