GUATEMALA: Authorities in Guatemala City seize 1,000 kilos of cocaine at the international airport. Reax to arrest of Guatemala's anti-drug chief and two of his senior officials arrested in the U.S. on drugs charges.

Record ID: 318309

  • Title: GUATEMALA: Authorities in Guatemala City seize 1,000 kilos of cocaine at the international airport. Reax to arrest of Guatemala's anti-drug chief and two of his senior officials arrested in the U.S. on drugs charges.
  • Date: 18th November 2005
  • Summary: (BN12) GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CASTILLO SPEAKING TO REPORTERS (MUTE)
  • Embargoed: 3rd December 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Guatemala
  • Country: Guatemala
  • Reuters ID: LVACJE4BWXJJP0U48QIY2FESD297
  • Story Text: Guatemala's anti-drug chief and two of his senior officials have been arrested on charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine in the United States, U.S. officials said on Wednesday (November 16). The Guatemalan government assisted in the investigation but the arrests was an embarrassment for President Oscar Berger, who has tried to clean up the poor Central American country's image as corrupt and crime ridden. The three were arrested in the United States on Tuesday (November 15) after arriving in the country from Guatemala and have been charged in an indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Washington. If convicted, they face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison. As news of the arrests circulated, authorities in Guatemala City seized some 1,000 kilos of cocaine at the capital's international airport. Police reports indicate that the drug seizure is not tied to the arrests of the three officials. The three defendants are Adan Castillo, the head of Guatemala's anti-narcotics agency; Jorge Aguilar, the second in command; and Rubilio Orlando, a member of the agency responsible for security sweeps at the Atlantic port city of Santo Tomas. In Guatemala City, Interior Minister Carlos Vielmann told reporters, "It is a powerful blow against the infiltration of organized crime." He said Washington had first alerted Guatemala's government that Castillo was involved in drug smuggling six months ago. Vielmann said Guatemala had seized almost a ton of cocaine in Santo Tomas but it was unclear if that was directly related to the arrests. U.S. officials say drug cartels are increasingly using Guatemala as a route to smuggle cocaine from South America into Mexico and on to the United States. The anti-narcotics agency headed by Castillo was set up in 2003 to replace a similar body that was disbanded when agents were caught stealing seized cocaine from its warehouses. Mexico suffered a similar embarrassment when the anti-drugs chief Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was jailed in 1997 for taking bribes from the powerful Juarez Cartel.
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