The police announced on Tuesday the dismantling of the “ office in Spain” of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, considered a terrorist organization by the United States. The announcement comes in the aftermath of an operation against drug trafficking with 20 detainees, including two “priority” targets of the DEA, the American anti-drug agency, for several years, and “members of the Italian Camorra dedicated to international distribution”.
The CJNG was founded just over a decade ago. However, it has grown rapidly because it uses a franchising which allows several groups to operate under his command in Mexico and allows him to wrest control from other organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel. He is known for his extreme violence and brutal tactics. They have been involved in numerous violent clashes and are responsible for a very high number of murders, as well as challenging the government’s authority. The White House has placed them on the list of terrorist organizations and has offered heavy rewards for the capture of their leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias El Mencho.
Those arrested were allegedly involved in the introduction of large quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine hidden in large industrial machinery. The drugs traveled from South America and were then distributed throughout Spain and other European countries. The investigation, called Operation Oyamel, was led by the National Court’s Investigation Court No. 2 and the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office.
According to police investigations, the organization had “reactivated its operational structure” due to the arrival of a new batch and had incorporated new Mexican members expressly sent by the CJNG. In total the agents seized 1,870 kilos of cocaine, 375 kilos of amphetamines, three handguns and 15 vehicles, as well as 275 thousand euros in cash.
The investigation began this year, when the agents ascertained that cocaine was being introduced into large-tonnage industrial machinery and that for this activity the activities of a Spanish entrepreneur whom they had placed “at the service of the cartel” were being exploited. When the drugs arrived in Spain, they were stored in farms located in the mountains of Madrid and in Ávila.
The drugs were distributed nationwide in vehicles with hidden compartments in Valencia and Bilbao, while for international transport the organization had other agricultural companies in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo), where the industrial machinery with the hidden drugs were received and sent in the same way to Italy.
The first shipment of cocaine to Italy was discovered in September, just two months ago, by a Neapolitan Camorra boss from the Amato-Pagano clan.
The investigators divided the operation into two phases, in the first they arrested the core of the operations and in the second they focused on the key distribution points in the province of Valencia and the Basque Country. Of the 20 detainees, 15 were imprisoned.
At the time of the arrests, the agents intercepted, in coordination with the Dutch authorities, a load hidden in industrial machinery that was traveling in a sea container coming from Costa Rica.
The Jalisco New Generation cartel is credited with a 2020 attack on Omar García Harfuch, then Mexico City’s police chief. They shot more than 400 times and this cost the life of one of their bodyguards. García Harfuch is currently Secretary of Security and Protection of Citizens of Mexico, a position equivalent to Minister of the Interior.
