- Title: COLOMBIA: Colombia arrests sons of Cali cartel druglord
- Date: 28th February 2009
- Summary: BOGOTA. COLOMBIA (FEBRUARY 25, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF ATTORNEY'S OFFICE VARIOUS GENERAL VIEWS OF NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ATTORNEY GENERAL MARIO IGUARAN SAYING: "Today we've captured 38 people, amongst them are Claudio Rodrigues, Alexandra, Jaime and Humberto Rodrigues Orejuela and also the Mrs. Amparo Rodrigues de Gil, A
- Embargoed: 15th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Colombia
- Country: Colombia
- Reuters ID: LVAA1I1PRU4KUOHBTXGD5HEQZPE9
- Story Text: Colombia arrests sons and other relatives of Cali cartel druglord for allegedly covering up money and goods acquired with from drug trafficking.
Three sons of a former boss of Colombia's Cali drug cartel have been arrested along with more than 20 other people on charges of money laundering, authorities said on Wednesday (February 25).
Houses, apartments and buildings in several Colombian cities were seized in the operation involving the national police, state prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, police said.
Attorney Mario Iguaran said among those arrested were the sons and sister of Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela who, along with his brother Miguel, ran the huge Cali cocaine cartel until they negotiated their surrender and were extradited to the United States in 2005.
"Today we've captured 38 people, amongst them are Claudio Rodrigues, Alexandra, Jaime and Humberto Rodriguez Orejuela and also the Mrs.
Amparo Rodrigues de Gil, Alfonso Gil, Zoraida Muñoz Rodrigues and other people, many of them related to Gilberto and Miguel Rodrigues Orejuela,"
he said.
He said the arrests were made because of efforts by the family to cover up money and goods after the family agreed to turn over all property procured from illicit activities.
"For now, I can say that an investigation started when the declaration of Gustavo Romi established that Jaime, Alexandra and Humberto Rodrigues, along with Claudia Rodrigues, designed a strategy to hide, cover up, and launder goods acquired by their father and uncle, Gilberto and Miguel Rodrigues, with money or goods acquired with money from illegal activity, basically drug trafficking," he said.
Both Gilberto and Miguel Rodrigues are now in jail in the United States.
Jaime Humberto Gil, a lawyer for the Rodrigues clan, said they would take things calm.
"I think we have to take things calmly. We have to look at the accusations and we have to wait. They are going to defend themselves. It's a situation of great injustice when there were some agreements."
The Cali cartel, based out of the city by that name, once fought for control of Colombia's drug trade with the Medellin cartel, which was led by cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar until his death in December 1993. The Medellin cartel eventually fell apart after Escobar's death and Cali become dominant. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None