“Ivan” for Borderland Beat
A Sinaloa nationwide was arrested in Guatemala with an extradition order to the US, accused of fentanyl trafficking and cash laundering utilizing cryptocurrencies.
The Public Prosecutor’s Workplace and the Nationwide Civil Police reported that he was arrested in zone 10 of Guatemala Metropolis.
The detainee is Sergio Antonio Duarte Frías, 27 years outdated, initially from Sinaloa.
Duarte Frías is needed for trial in the US District Court docket for the Southern District of New York for drug trafficking and firearms-related crimes and cash laundering for the Sinaloa cartel.
The investigation revealed that the defendant directed associates to gather cash from varied drug traffickers in the US.
These associates transformed the cash from money to cryptocurrency after which Sergio would convert it into money that he would ship to traffickers in Mexico as cost for drug gross sales in the US.
Throughout the course of the investigation, the defendant additionally offered fentanyl that was imported by associates into the US on a number of events, requested to gather bulk forex from drug proceeds to transform the cash into cryptocurrency, and likewise mentioned the potential for using weapons as helpful items that may very well be smuggled into Mexico.