DEA agents in New York, 2021.
Photo: KENA BETANCUR / AFP / Getty Images
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Junior Escobar Miranda, alleged Colombian drug trafficker, was extradited to the US to face charges for allegedly sending more than 20 pounds of heroin to New York City, specifically Queens County.
Escobar Miranda was extradited to New York on Friday, authorities reported yesterday. U.S. and Colombian state and federal law enforcement agencies collected text messages and other evidence that showed that he trafficked drugs between May and October 2017, the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement.
The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) detailed that Escobar Miranda is accused of international heroin trafficking and money laundering. Supposedly worked with a Chinese national to hide most of the cash that he received in bank accounts that he controlled in Colombia.
Escobar Miranda appears to have taken a hands-on approach to drug trafficking, bypassing the cartels so he could personally oversee the importation of heroin, according to the statement cited by New York Post. He used people, or drug mules, to move the heroin from Colombia to the US after hiding it in suitcases, prosecutors alleged.
“Escobar Miranda’s extradition to New York City represents law enforcement’s commitment to holding drug traffickers accountable for actions that take precious lives, even those they believe are beyond our reach,” said Special Counsel Bridget Brennan. it’s a statement.
“Miranda Escobar’s modus operandi was to do direct drug deals with New York traffickers, without intermediaries like the Mexican cartels. This left more profits for the Colombian capo. The DEA documented that a single delivery of heroin made in 2017 left half a million dollars as illicit proceeds. The money was deposited in different financial institutions that exist in tax havens such as the Caribbean”, summarized the newspaper The Truth of Tamaulipas.
Also on Friday was arrested in Mexico the capo Rafael Caro Quintero, but a federal judge in that country granted him an injunction to prevent his extradition to the United States, according to judicial resolutions available yesterday. He is the most wanted man by the DEA for being the alleged responsible for the assassination of his agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.
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