Borderland Beat |  |
- Alfredo Castillo shops for a Rolex while Michoacan burns
- Félix Gallardo goes to medium security because of Sickness Concerns
- Linked first with Arellano Felix, then Sinaloa; Garibay Released in San Luis Rio Colorado
- Vancouver Canada-Mexican cartel connection
Alfredo Castillo shops for a Rolex while Michoacan burns Posted: 21 Dec 2014 11:16 PM PST El Diario de Coahuila (Sunday December 21, 2014) by Jose Gil Olmos  MEXICO, D.F. (Apro).- For two hours on Tuesday afternoon, (December) 16, two groups equipped with high power weapons fought for control of La Ruana, in the Tierra Caliente, Michoacan, a key location in the production of synthetic drugs and an obligatory route for loads of cocaine, marijuana and gum opium going to the United States, according to official documents. On that day, the followers of Hipolito Mora and Luis Antonio Torres, "El Americano", exchanged gunfire with .50 caliber machine guns, assault rifles and high power pistols, and launched fragmentation grenades. The result: 11 killed. And while that was happening on Michoacan territory, the federal government's commissioner, Alfredo Castillo, was in Mexico City. He had lunch in a Polanco restaurant, then he went shopping in a luxury watch shop in the neighborhood, so claimed PAN senators Luisa Maria Calderon and Javier Lozano. [He was shopping for a Rolex, according to other news services.--un vato] When he was told about the shootout, all that Castillo could think to say was that it was due to personal differences between Mora and "El Americano". However, residents of La Ruana, in the municipality of Buenavista Tomatitlan, assert that it is in reality a battle for control of this area that is important in the production of synthetic drugs and the strategic route for transporting other drugs. ANONYMOUSLY In the beginning, they say-- on the condition that their names be withheld-- the area was controlled by Jesus "El Chango" Mendez, the founder of La Familia Michoacana and a native of that municipality. The inhabitants of the community of Felipe Carrillo Puerto -- known as La Ruana in honor of a white mare with grey and bay spots-- comment to the reporter that La Familia Michoacana as well as Los Caballeros Templarios have for some time used the place for construction of laboratories for the production of synthetic drugs. According to them, on September 20th, personnel with the Mexican Attorney General (PGR: Procuraduria General de la Republica) and the Federal Police (PF: Policia Federal) shut down a laboratory in the town of 18 de Marzo. At the same time, the National Security Commission (Comision Nacional de Seguridad) issued a communique in which it disclosed that "tambos" (oil drums) had been found "in the brush", as well as "improvised burners" and plastic containers with precursor chemicals for manufacturing methamphetamine. Synthetic drugs continue to be manufactured in Tierra Caliente, such as ephedrine, crystal and crack. This last (substance) was, according to official documents consulted by Proceso, invented in Apatzingan by Los Caballeros Templarios. In Aguililla, Coalcoman, Aquila, Chinicuila, Coahuayana, Tepalcatepec and Sierra de Tumbiscatio, they grow opium poppy, from which opium gum is extracted. Opium gum is the basis for morphine and heroin, the most powerful drug. OLD DISPUTES According to the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA), soldiers from the XXI and XLIII military zones have located and destroyed dozens of narcotics laboratories in the Tierra Caliente region where La Ruana is located, which puts this state in first place in this activity, above Jalisco and Sinaloa. In 2012, the PGR dismantled 938 clandestine laboratories, 83 of which were used to manufacture methamphetamine in Tierra Caliente (Proceso, No. 1917). The Navy reported that the construction of these "narcotics factories" increased 1200% in Michoacan and displaced the cultivation and planting of marijuana and opium poppy. Another document, attributed to military intelligence and which this reporter had access to, establishes that as a result of the rise of self defense forces in February of 2013, two groups took advantage of the Templarios' weakness to take control of Tierra Caliente. One of them, Los Gallegos, is led by lemon grower and hotel owner, Miguel Gallegos Godoy, "El Micheladas" or "El Migueladas"; the other group is "La Tercera Hermandad", or H3, associated with Los Viagras and led by "El Americano", who, although born in the United States, is a Mexican citizen. ALLEGED SELF DEFENSE FORCES "El Micheladas", former Templario chief, has entered into agreements with Nemesio Oceguera Cervantes, "El Mencho", of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion Cartel, since 2011, since he's one of the main producers of synthetic drugs in Michoacan. Both of them, according to the document mentioned above, rely on alleged self defense forces ("autodefensas") in Tierra Caliente, and use the routes in Tepalcatepec, La Ruana and Buenavista, which border Jalisco. "They say that their operatives for this purpose are the so-called H3, led by Luis Antonio Torres, known as Simon or El Americano, who is the leader of the Buenavista Tomatlan "autodefensas" and who leads an armed group of approximately 1,200 individuals, who also call themselves '(an) operative autodefensa'". (Proceso No. 1955). One of the organization's operators is Jose Alvarado Robledo, "El Burrillo" or "El Burro", who is identified as the sponsor of the Buenavista Tomatlan "autodefensas". Also mentioned are Jose and Antonio Mendez Vargas, the brothers of "Chango" Mendez; Gerardo Serafin, "El G1", formerly with Los Caballeros Templarios; the brothers Rodolfo and Mariano Serra Santana, "Los Viagras", the most powerful criminal organization in Tierra Caliente, which today occupies the position formerly held by Los Caballeros Templarios. CONFRONTATIONS The cited confidential report states that "El Americano" and "El Burrillo" have tried to take over some orchards belonging to "Chango" Mendez, who was arrested in 2011. Supposedly, (Hipolito) Mora, compadre (co-godfather) of "El Chango", had them and used the income to support the "autodefensas" and the widows in the municipality. For that reason, aside from their personal differences, the confrontations between Mora and "El Americano" for control of La Ruana are increasingly more violent. After this past 8th of March, with support from Commissioner Castillo, "El Americano" took control of Buenavista Tomatlan and pushed for (Hipolito) Mora's imprisonment five days later, on (March) 13th, accused of the murders of Rafael Sanchez Moreno, "El Pollo", and Jose Luis Torres Castaneda, known in the community as members of Los Caballeros Templarios. Mora was in prison for 65 days in the David Franco Rodriguez Correctional Center, known as "Mil Cumbres" (1,000 Peaks), until he was released on May 16 because the evidence brought against him was insufficient. By then, "El Americano" and Los Viagras -- now converted into Rural Police (Fuerzas Rurales) and supported by Commissioner Castillo -- controlled one of the principal routes in Michoacan for the transportation of synthetic drugs. THE GODFATHER OF LOS VIAGRAS Alfredo Castillo, former head of the Federal Consumer Protection office (Procuraduria Federal del Consumidor) and former Mexico State Attorney General, was appointed Commissioner for Security and Integral Development of Michoacan by presidential decree (executive order) on January 15 this year. His orders: pacify the state and disarm the self defense forces that had organized to fight Los Caballeros Templarios. In six months he became known as the "viceroy" of Michoacan, a nickname he made popular because he dedicated himself to imposing the entire political and justice systems, negotiated with the leaders of the self defense forces -- which he transformed into Rural Police (Fuerzas Rurales) on May 10 -- and, according to Gregorio Lopez, Vicar of the Apatzingan cathedral, he made a pact with Los Viagras, allowing many "repented" or "forgiven" Templarios to join the Rural Police. Subsequent to that, President Enrique Pena Nieto returned to Michoacan and declared that peace and tranquility had been restored by Castillo. VIOLENCE INCREASED However, the hard facts from the National System of Public Security (SNSP: Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica) show that violence increased in Michoacan in 2014 compared to last year. According to the SNSP's statistics, the state continues to be ranked as one of the top five places in the number of intentional homicides, kidnappings and extortion. From February to October, 2013, for example, there were 663 murders reported; during the same period in 2014, these increased to 732. In 2013, there were 12,674 robberies; so far this year there have been 13,028. Kidnappings increased from 134 to 140. Father Gregorio "Goyo" Lopez, Vicar of the Apatzingan cathedral, argues that Castillo has failed in his mission to restore peace and tranquility in Michoacan because he made a pact with and protected the Los Viagras criminal organization and converted them into Rural Police, which gave them more power.  | ||||
Félix Gallardo goes to medium security because of Sickness Concerns Posted: 21 Dec 2014 08:59 PM PST Spike for Borderland Beat  Mexico, D.F. (apro).-Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the Godfather, founder of the Guadalajara cartel, will be transferred to a medium security prison in Guadalajara, Jalisco, due to his precarious state of health, according to Apro judicial sources. The Godfather is almost blind and deaf, so the fourth processes criminal Federal District Court ordered the relocation of Félix Gallardo from the supermax Altiplano no 1, in the State of Mexico, where he has been confined since 1991, when the prison opened he was the first criminal on high security lockdown in the country. 68-year-old Felix Gallardo was sentenced by a Court of the Federal District, in 1994, to 40 years in prison for murder, multiple crimes against health, possession of firearm and bribery. In addition,;he is still under prosecution for kidnapping, murder and illegal burial of the agent of the DEA, Enrique ( Kiki )Camarena, in February 1985. The sentence is still does not dictated since his legal team has fought various procedural violations in thejudgment in Guadalajara.  For that same offence he was sentenced to 40 years in prison, Rafael Caro Quintero, who was released, although months later amid pressure from the United States, the Supreme Court of Justice of the nation (SCJN) reversed the amparo which he had granted by a Court of Jalisco, so he was a fugitive since in August of last year. According to sources, the head of the Court, Sonia Hernández Orozco, after having seen in video conferencing to Felix Gallardo, issued an agreement ordering the transfer to the decentralized organ of prevention and Social rehabilitation of the Ministry of the Interior (Segob). He was the founder along with Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, net Don, of the Guadalajara cartel, Félix Gallardo had tried for several years to get moved to the Metropolitan Hall of Guadalajara, due to the deterioration of his health. His defense has alleged that the Sinaloa ex narco-traficante is malnourished due to bad treatment in prison, including the restriction of drugs.
Courtesy of http://www.proceso.com.mx/  | ||||
Linked first with Arellano Felix, then Sinaloa; Garibay Released in San Luis Rio Colorado Posted: 21 Dec 2014 03:44 PM PST Spike for Borderland Beat translated from Zeta Tiajuana Article  Near 9 o'clock on the evening of Wednesday, December 17, Manuel Garibay Espinoza was released from the Center for Social re-adaptation in San Luis Rio Colorado, only four years and six months after his arrest in Mexicali Valley in June 2010. Garibay Espinoza has been the head of a gang of organized crime that operated for years in the southeastern part of the Valley of Mexicali. This linked in the mid 80's to the Arellano Felix Cartel, he was arrested in Arizona and became a protected witness, then returned to Mexico to get involved with the Sinaloa Cartel. In the Mexicali Valley a wave of murders were attributed to the group "Los Garibays" , their centre of operations being a ranch called Pescaderos, in the Chiapas Ejido. In 2002 there was a strong operation by the State Attorney's office looking for clandestine graves in that area. The group was presumably responsible for the death of seven sinaloans - in June 1999 - apparently part of a rival gang, the same group carried out the kidnapping and murder of a farmer's called Larios, as well as the execution of a police officer called Federico Alvidrez, who had been investigating a series of robberies to packing houses in the Valley. In July 2004, the Garibay group also killed the Commander of the Ministerial police, Humberto Armenta. In March 2002, the Chief of police in San Luis Rio Colorado, Luis Antonio Pineda Rodriguez were riddled with bullets outside their homes, attributing the crime to Manuel Garibay, who had been arrested by the police chief a week before. After that Garibay disappeared from the area, but the leadership was taken over by his son, Manuel Garibay Espinoza, alias "El Gordo", who was arrested in Los Angeles, California and transferred to the Prison of Puente Grande, Jalisco, Mexico where he was released on 12 June 2012. On February 21, "El Gordo" was murdered in Zapopan, Jalisco. Manuel Garibay Espinoza was arrested by elements of the State preventive police on 24 June 2010, but was moved to the Federal Center for Social rehabilitation No. 3 in Tamaulipas. On 7 May this year he was released by federal Justice -as they did not have sufficient evidence to try him - and he was transferred to Tijuana where he was received by elements of violent homicide unit, certified medically and carried to the center of Social re-adaptation of medium security known as the fungus El Hongo, in Tecate. They accused him of aggravated kidnapping and murder and is on record in the mixed Court of Morelos city of which he was also exonerated . He was then transferred to the Prison of San Luis Rio Colorado, since the only valid charge was the murder of the head of the municipal police of San Luis Rio Colorado. But on 17 September last , a criminal court based in San Luis Río Colorado Sonora and headed by judge Luis Alberto Escalante Flores declared his freedom. They accused him of homicide with premeditation and treachery against the police chief Rodriguez Pineda, but the judge acquitted him according to record 300/2004, so Garibay Espinoza was free the same night.  | ||||
Vancouver Canada-Mexican cartel connection Posted: 21 Dec 2014 12:23 PM PST Lucio Borderland Beat republished from National Post Mexican Cartels Money Laundering and operations  In his 2003 graduation yearbook, Savein thanked his parents and teachers for getting him through school: “Looking back, it’s hard to put things in perspective but I think I’ve learned a lot.” His privileged existence was dramatically different from those 3,000 kilometres away in rugged Culiacán, Mexico, headquarters of the world’s most powerful drug trafficking organization. The Vancouver Sun has traced how these two worlds collided on the streets of Metro Vancouver, where millions of dollars in dirty money owned by the Sinaloa and La Familia cartels was laundered. Millions flowed into the bank account of Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin Guzman, known colloquially as El Chapo ( Shorty). Some cartel cash was delivered by Savein. Vancouver money even ended up in Colombia and Ecuador, where Sinaloa brokers used it to purchase thousands of kilograms of cocaine.  Hockey bags full of cash handed over in Metro Vancouver mall parking lots. Cartel frontmen posing as simple house cleaners. Cryptic emails arranging pickups using code phrases like “Looking for Ernie on behalf of Bert” and references to Guzman himself as the “strongest one from Sinaloa.” Five of those indicted in the U.S. — Savein and four Mexicans — were arrested in Vancouver and Montreal in 2011. Savein, now 30, fought his extradition for more than three years before the B.C. Court of Appeal recently ordered him to surrender to American authorities. He was flown to San Diego in early September on money laundering charges. Despite his initial proclamation of innocence, he pleaded guilty Sept. 30 and is to be sentenced in early 2015. Like others in the Sinaloa investigation, details of Savein’s plea bargain with U.S. authorities have been sealed. But The Sun has pieced together the story of the cartel’s Canadian connections from court documents in related cases, as well as source information and interviews. Savein’s world began to unravel four years ago in the parking lot of the Rona Home and Garden store on Grandview Highway in east Vancouver. The young man went there in April 2010 with $811,850 stuffed in bags to meet someone he thought was a gangster working for a Mexican cartel.
In fact, the man who collected the bags of cash that day was an undercover Vancouver Police officer working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). So how did Savein get involved with a notorious foreign gang? His high school years were uneventful, according to several former classmates who didn’t want to be identified. He projected a tough-guy image and was voted one of the most “hardcore” in his Grade 12 class. “I can’t see myself missing this place much but Point Grey wasn’t all that bad,” he wrote in his 2003 yearbook comment. One friend who asked that his name not be used said Savein left for university in the east, but he wasn’t sure where. Within a couple of years, however, Savein was back in B.C. and already on Vancouver Police radar. He was suspected in a lottery scam that targeted British seniors through the mail, asking them to pay service charges in the thousands to collect even bigger prizes. The VPD investigated the fraudulent telemarketing scheme in 2006, according to a suit filed against Savein by the B.C. director of civil forfeiture. “Savein operated a fictitious lottery sweepstakes competition. The scheme involved sending a bait letter to prospective victims whereby the victims were enticed into registering for a fictitious lottery sweepstakes draw to be made subsequent to registration,” the statement of claim alleged. The VPD set up an elaborate sting to crack the scheme, sending an officer to the U.K. to pose as a potential victim. The police traced the ensuing money transfers to a computer in a Yaletown Internet café. Savein was seen at the café accessing the money orders on March 13, 2007.
He was arrested the same day. Vancouver Police searched his apartment on the 21st floor of 939 Expo Blvd. and found a safe containing $68,109. While he was never charged, the B.C. government took him to court to get the cash, saying it was clearly connected to criminal activity and should be forfeited. Savein filed a statement of defence, denying all the allegations. But he settled a few months later, with two-thirds of the cash going to Victoria and the rest returned to Savein through his lawyer. At some point, Savein connected with gangster Shane (Wheels) Maloney, a former Burnaby resident and member of Montreal’s West End gang. Maloney was charged two years ago along with a B.C. Hells Angel and another man as alleged kingpins in a cross-country cocaine ring that worked closely with Mexican cartels. A document obtained by The Sun shows that Maloney, Savein and three Mexicans involved in the Vancouver cartel transactions are all listed associates of Montreal’s premier pot smuggler Jimmy Cournoyer, who a New York judge sentenced to 27 years in August for running a major international drug ring linked to the Hells Angels, the Mafia and the Sinaloa cartel. Vancouver a lucrative market Vancouver is one of the most lucrative drug markets in the world, police sources say, with millions and millions flowing into the hands of mid-level gangs and those above them who supply their cocaine and other drugs. Think of a pyramid with major criminal organizations like the Sinaloa cartel at the top and those working on Metro Vancouver streets doing deliveries for dial-a-dope operators at the bottom. In between are B.C. gangs like the Hells Angels, the Independent Soldiers and the United Nations. When the international suppliers want their cash, soldiers like Savein working for the mid-level traffickers scramble to collect from those under them selling their products. Moving the drug profits across international boundaries without being intercepted by authorities has always been a challenge for organized crime. The DEA exploited that weakness and pulled off a spectacular ruse, despite the wealth and sophistication of the murderous Sinaloa cartel. An undercover DEA agent dubbed José posed as the manager of a worldwide criminal organization that could transport tons of cocaine and launder tens of millions of dollars undetected.  The probe focused on Victor Manuel Felix-Felix, known as El Señor — the Lord. His daughter is married to Guzman’s son and he’s a close confidante of the cartel boss, as well as a principal Sinaloa financier. He’s now in jail in Mexico, fighting extradition to the U.S., where he is charged on the same indictment as Savein and 23 others. For two years, the DEA agent arranged pickups of cartel money in Vancouver, Montreal and across the U.S. He later deposited the cash, minus his “fee,” into bank accounts specified by Sinaloa and La Familia representatives or — when requested — delivered it in person to Mexico and even Colombia. By the time the arrests went down in March and July 2011, the DEA had seized more than $6 million in drug proceeds and more than 6,700 kilograms of cocaine. Cartels set up shop José first learned of the Sinaloa’s B.C. links in December 2009 when one of his new underworld contacts told him she had a client who had $100 million Canadian that he needed converted into U.S. dollars and moved from Vancouver and Toronto to Mexico City. As the DEA agent brokered more deals with the cartel, police monitored the money transfers to gangs and groups across North America, including the Vancouver couriers. José’s DEA counterparts in B.C. brought in Vancouver Police. Investigators learned the cartel had sent Camet and Urbina to set up shop in Vancouver, where the two Mexicans worked with Savein and others still unidentified to move mountains of drug money. A Sinaloa rep in Mexico named Rodrigo Colmenares was pulling the strings of the Canadian operation — contacting the couriers in Vancouver and other cities directly and passing along their information to the DEA agent. On April 10, Colmenares told the agent to collect $1 million in Vancouver. He said the cash belonged to La Familia — a smaller cartel with close ties to Sinaloa. Colmenares called Savein into action, unwittingly putting the Vancouver native in contact with an undercover VPD officer. On the morning of the drop, Savein confessed over the phone to the cop that he was nervous about having “all this stuff.” At 10:26 a.m., the pair met in the parking lot of Rona Home & Garden in east Vancouver. Savein gave the cop a duffel bag and two cloth shopping bags containing $811,850 in Canadian and $100 U.S. Savein was worried that someone would see the money sticking out of the top of one of the shopping bags that couldn’t be closed. Over the course of several months, the DEA agent and his Sinaloa contacts continued to call, email and meet — in Canada, California, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. Of the $8 million in cartel cash collected by undercover police in Canada during the probe, almost $7 million of it was delivered by Vancouver couriers. Colmenares, the Mexican puppet master, would snap his fingers and the B.C. cash would be pulled together and driven to parking lots — Rona, Superstore, a mall on Cambie Street — in amounts ranging from a few hundred thousand to more than $3 million. In one of several clandestine operations outlined in court documents, Camet and Urbina arrived in June 2010 at a Safeway on Kingsway in east Vancouver and handed the undercover Vancouver cop a heavy duffel bag containing $524,020 in Canadian currency. When the cop asked if the bag was “all of it,” Urbina said they were “a little short.” The officer asked the pair how much money was missing. Urbina pulled out a laptop computer and showed the officer an Excel spreadsheet detailing more than half a million dollars. Colmenares told the DEA agent to transport money picked up in Canada and New York to Mexico City so it could be used to pay for cocaine sitting in Ecuador waiting to be smuggled north. There was still more than $3 million of Sinaloa money to be collected in Vancouver. A few months later, in October 2010, Camet and Urbina got a call from Mexico telling them their services were needed again. They rented a car, ditched their regular cleaning jobs and headed to Burnaby’s Lougheed Mall. In the mall parking lot, they met a man who drove with them to the underground lot of his apartment building on Gildwood Drive. There he took three black hockey bags out of his vehicle and put them in the rental car. The Mexicans drove away with more than $3.2 million in the trunk. Even the veteran money launderers were nervous about having so much cash on them. They weren’t supposed to drop it off until the following day. But neither wanted to take it home. So they rented a room at a downtown Vancouver hotel and parked the rental car, with millions inside, in the underground lot. They headed to their own apartments for the night and returned the next day to get the car. Camet went alone to a mall on Cambie Street to deliver the hockey bags to the undercover VPD officer. They contained $3,291,970 Canadian and $8,060 U.S. — the money the Sinaloa cartel needed to move four tons of cocaine from South America to their northern markets. With all the cash in place, Felix-Felix called the agent directly and said he was sending high-ranking Sinaloa contacts to Ecuador to prepare the cocaine, which he expected the agent to be ready to move by early November. The agent flew to Ecuador and told Felix-Felix’s men he was ready to receive their cocaine. But the DEA was also making arrangements with the Ecuadorean National Police, who seized a cargo truck carrying more than 2,500 kilograms of cocaine. Undeterred, the Sinaloa cartel continued collecting large quantities of drug money across the U.S. and in Canada. Another $1 million was transported from Vancouver to Colombia. But again, it was a doublecross. As the money was being driven to Cali, it was intercepted by the Colombian National Police. The seizures of both cash and cocaine in South America didn’t seem to affect the cartel’s resolve to keep the drugs and money flowing north and south. Felix-Felix had no idea his massive international network was about to collapse and he was weeks away from capture. They’re just going to make disappear my family In March 2011, José received an email from Felix-Felix. It said the “contract had been signed” — meaning the cocaine had been delivered in Ecuador. The Sinaloa money man known as “The Lord” ended his message to the man who would bring him down with a simple: “God Bless You.” The next day Felix-Felix, Colmenares and 16 of their Sinaloa associates were arrested in Mexico. Police question cartel men Vancouver police picked up Camet and Urbina on July 19, 2011 as part of a North America-wide sweep by law enforcement of the cartel’s suspected money launderers. The two Mexicans were questioned days later while they were jailed at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre. The Sun obtained transcripts of those interviews, which provide fascinating insight into the scope of the DEA investigation and the VPD’s role in it. “We’ve been watching you,” Det. Derek Hill told Urbina. “We’ve been using helicopters, lots of police officers. Okay. So we know you’ve been involved here.” Urbina, who was then 27, told the three VPD detectives that he was “very afraid.” He said he wanted to cooperate but was worried something would happen to his family in Mexico. “They’re just going to make disappear my family,” he said, sobbing. I believe that you don’t really understand what’s going to happen The police tried to reassure him that all the key Sinaloa players were in jail in Mexico, with limited ability to retaliate. “If it’s not your money, then you need to let us know where it came from,” Hill said. “Right now it looks like it’s your money and you’re a big drug trafficker from the Sinaloa cartel.” Urbina broke down again as he explained that things are different in Mexico, that police aren’t “honest” like in Canada. “If I tell you exactly what I know, I think or I believe that you don’t really understand what’s going to happen,” he said, sobbing again. His mom, sister and girlfriend could be kidnapped, mistreated or even killed, Urbina said. He finally admitted that he knew Rodrigo Colmenares through an old friend in his hometown in Mexico. Det. Scott Rollins said Colmenares claimed to police in Mexico that he sent Camet and Urbina to Vancouver “to help him move money from Canada to the United States.” “That’s not true,” Urbina said. It was $6.1 million. It’s a lot of money, right? He came to Canada in 2008 because he wanted a better life, not to work for a Mexican cartel, he said. “I’ve been working here hard for over three years, cleaning toilets, cleaning all the poop from dogs, cleaning and giving my best to all the persons in Canada.” Camet, then 36, was interviewed two days later at North Fraser by the same detectives. He came to Canada legally in November 2009 and met Urbina at the company where they both worked as cleaners, he said. Camet claimed he made a few hundred dollars every time he delivered the cash. He knew it was “dirty money” but not that it was linked to drug cartels. Rollins commented on the huge amounts of cash dropped off by Camet. “It was $6.1 million. It’s a lot of money, right?” Camet agreed: “It’s not easy to clean this money right? If I go to the bank with six millions and put in my account, they arrest me this moment.” Rollins said VPD wanted to “focus on the people that live in Canada that are doing the crimes, bringing the drugs.” Camet said he didn’t know anything and never asked about the source of the millions. He told police he wanted to stay in Canada and not be sent to the U.S. to face prosecution. “Do you think I can get my life back in Canada … if the police catch the big fish?” he asked. Rollins suggested Camet was minimizing his role. He said police found a money-counting machine and a closet full of suitcases that could have been for future cash transfers when they searched Camet’s apartment. Rollins noted that Camet used an alias — Rocky — and that he and Urbina rented cars and bought pay-as-you-go phones “to avoid police detection.” Said Rollins: “Everything about these transfers, these money transactions, to me even if I wasn’t a police officer, looks bad.” Camet and Urbina were extradited to the U.S. where both pleaded guilty last year. They were sentenced to 46 months each. Savein was arrested on July 31, 2011. He will be sentenced in San Diego on Jan. 12 by U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn L. Huff. The maximum penalty for money laundering is 20 years. |
