San Pedro Sula, Honduras.
In a vast operation carried out in four departments by authorities of the Public ministry The alleged heads of the criminal organization Zapatón were captured yesterday within the Sigma operation, which according to the findings of the National Anti-Drug Police Directorate (DNPA) is a cell of the Los Cachiros drug cartel.
The arrested Joaquín Meléndez Bonilla and his wife Reina Serrano Meléndez were assured 46 personal and real property that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, are the product of money laundering derived from illicit drug trafficking.
The Zapatón organized crime structure, headed by the Meléndez spouses, managed to amass a fortune of more than 200 million lempiras.
The actions carried out in the departments of Copán, Lempira, Cortés and Yoro were directed by the Fiscal Unit for Special Operations (OPE-MP) and the Special Prosecutor Against Organized Crime, after two years of investigations in which more than 200 million lempiras were tracked.
The first indications of the case were obtained from a series of raids carried out on May 3, 2019 in Santa Rosa de Copán by prosecutors attached to OPE-MP in coordination with the Police Directorate of Investigations (DPI) and the Police Office for Financial Investigations (Opif), followed by the National Anti-Drug Police Directorate (DNPA), the National Directorate of Border Police Services (DNSPF) and the Police Intelligence Directorate (Dipol).
Through field and patrimonial proceedings, the Public ministry identified the constitution of commercial companies such as Zapatón, among others; Similarly, the acquisition of movable and immovable property carried out by those investigated in this file was verified during the period from 2001 to 2018.
He Public ministry and the police forces were able to establish that the defendants constantly transferred assets, all without any economic or legal justification of their origin.
The Prosecutor’s Office filed an injunction against the alleged money launderers before the court with national jurisdiction, proceeding with enforcement actions in Santa Rosa de Copan and La Entrada, in Copán, La Virtud, in the department of Lempira; Yorito, El Negrito and El Progreso, in the department of Yoro, and Puerto Cortés, San Pedro Sula and Villanueva, in Cortés. The assets insured in the Sigma operation correspond to 27 real estate (residences and land), two commercial companies and branches, and 17 vehicles.
The boss of the National Anti-Drug Police Directorate (DNPA), Mario Molina, said that one of the main objectives of the operation was the arrest of the Meléndez spouses, adding that the actions carried out against that criminal organization have international impact, especially in the United States and Panama.
“The company known as Zapatón is derived from the case of drug trafficking of the late Gustavo Chinchilla and property of Los Cachiros,” said Molina.
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