Cookout: DEA’s sophisticated operation to infiltrate the Sinaloa cartel and its fentanyl trafficking network

The narco Ramiro ramirez barreto wanted so much to emulate Joaquín el “Chapo” Guzmán, you ended up like him. This man, head of the Sinaloa Cartel arrested in 2019, and four members of his criminal cell were convicted on Jan. 25 by a court in the Eastern District of Virginia, United States, for setting up a network to trafficking in fentanyl and heroin.

This leader and his criminal gang were old and dangerous targets of the US government. He had, according to his criminal record, logistical support from various parties in Asia and on the shores of the Mexican Pacific coast.

Ramírez Barreto taught his partners the techniques that workers in the “Chapo” perfected in Sinaloa: They have not texted or made calls by conventional means. All this communication would be via encrypted messages by WhatsApp or Facetime on disposable cell phones.

But the Mexican and its operators have been identified by the Operation Cookout, —Started in August 2019 by the DEA, and ended with the arrest of 35 suspected criminals. Through text messages where the hit men bragged about their earnings, as well as phone calls, the US Drug Enforcement Administration was able to track them down.

Charges against the 44-year-old narco indicate he coordinated the drug route from Asia to Mexico. The operating mode This involved the introduction into Mexico of fentanyl precursors from Shanghai, by traditional mail.

Once in the country, Ramírez Barreto’s cell processed the substances in drug laboratories on the Mexican Pacific coast. When the drug was ready, they began a journey to the northern border of Mexico, and it was sent to the states of Texas, North Carolina and Virginia, in the USA.

The operation revealed far beyond the location of Ramírez Barreto and his criminal cell. In the midst of the 2020 pandemic, the formula for fentanyl – which follows the Shanghai-Pacific Mexico route – hasn’t stopped. The journalist Oscar Balderas cites DEA sources who revealed that the opioid trade has never stopped due to the coronavirus pandemic or the arrest of Ramírez Barreto and his criminal cell.

Ramírez Barreto’s last sentence is scheduled for July 12, by the Federal District Judge David J. Novak. The leader of the Sinaloa cartel faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

To date, a total of 45 operators have been charged in Operation Cookout. Of these, 42 admitted their criminal conduct and pleaded guilty. So far, 30 defendants have been convicted, most with prison terms ranging from two to ten years, and three defendants with between 15 and 25 years in prison.

$ 90 million affected by Zambada’s “Mayo” empire

He was Danielle Dreyer, an agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration (give), who infiltrated the Sinaloa cartel members of the Secretary of the Navy and US agencies to give a $ 90 million struck to the transnational group.

Thanks to the interception of intelligence and communications, as well as close relations with the commanders of the criminal organization, the agent was able to give warned Navy members to seize 2.5 tons of methamphetamine, in addition to 100 thousand fentanyl pills on the banks of Topolobampo, Sinaloa.

According to documents in file 21-MAG-1432 which were recorded by RíoDoce, Danielle Dreyer learned of the cargo that would be moved by cargo across the Sea of ​​Cortez from the Sinalo coast to a point in the port of San Felipe, Baja California.

The investigation began in Quintana Roo, in the tourist towns of Tulum and Cancun. Since the follow the tracks to Culiacán, where he established friendly ties with the middle managers of the Sinaloa Cartel. With more undercover officers, they worked for months on investigations.

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How the DEA infiltrated the Sinaloa cartel: it was the $ 90 million coup against Mayo Zambada’s criminal empire