Santo Domingo.-Colombian Juan Carlos López Macías “El Sobrino”, a renowned drug trafficker sentenced to 15 years in prison in his country, exchanged weapons for cocaine with South American paramilitary structures and the Sinaloa Cartel, shipments that he sent to his partner in the Dominican Republic, Rafael Ynoa Santana (El Pocho).
Through a process of international legal cooperation between local authorities, Colombia and the United States, it was proven that Ynoa Santana, identified as the leader of the network dismantled through “Operation Buffalo NK,” had ties to “El Sobrino.”
He added that the structure sent large shipments to the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico from Colombia and Venezuela via speedboats and fishing boats and, according to the evidence, approximately two tons of cocaine were seized in Dominican territorial waters.
Once the substances entered Dominican territory and Puerto Rican soil, logistics were carried out to send them to the United States and Europe, where, on occasions, their value was tripled, generating exorbitant illicit profits for the members of the structure.
The operation deployed early yesterday morning involved more than 400 officers from the National Directorate of Drug Control (DNCD) and 47 prosecutors, who executed 37 search warrants simultaneously in the provinces of Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, María Trinidad Sánchez, La Romana and Samaná, arresting more than 10 people, including Isidoro Rotestan Clase (El Men), partner of “El Pocho.”
About six vehicles were seized in the operation, which lasted several hours.
In a statement, authorities indicated that an investigation into this criminal network, which is also involved in contract killings, compulsory collection and money laundering, has been underway for several months.
“This is the first time that common tests provided by another country have been used in a collaborative process,” said the press release issued yesterday.
Links
Alias El Sobrino was arrested on June 27, 2022, during Operation “Troy”, a simultaneous action in several cities in Colombia, which resulted in an important operational result that contributes to strengthening coexistence and citizen security in the region.
Through an investigation process, Colombian authorities intercepted conversations between López Macías, “El Sobrino,” and Ynoa Santana, “El Pocho,” in which they coordinated shipments of cocaine and weapons.
In one of those conversations, Ynoa Santana “El Pocho” tells El Sobrino that “they have a lot of those brooms and Glocks here,” referring to short- and long-range weapons to “send to the guerrillas.”
The links between the Colombian and Dominican structures were detected in 2020 when López Macías coordinated the shipment of two tons of cocaine.
Part of the evidence presented yesterday at the DNCD.
López Macías was first arrested in February 2012, in an operation against the Llano Cartel, which had ties to Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.
On that occasion, El Sobrino was extradited to the United States, returning to Colombia in 2015 and immediately re-entering the world of drug trafficking.
After 2015, El Sobrino established a drug trafficking chain by obtaining cocaine in Putumayo, Colombia, transporting it by land to the coastal area of La Guajira and sending it by speedboat to the south of the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.
Investigation
— Report
At the end of last year, the Noticias Caracol network in Colombia published a report on the structure of Juan Carlos López Macías “el Sobrino” and his Dominican partner Rafael Ynoa Santana (El Pocho).
“El Pocho”, arrested in 2003 by the DEA
Operations. Rafael Ynoa Santana (El Pocho), identified by authorities as the leader of the network dismantled through “Operation Buffalo NK,” is a repeat offender in the world of drug trafficking, having been arrested in 2003 in connection with a drug trafficking network between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website details that Ynoa Santana was arrested along with eight other people through a combination called “Operation Case M,” which targeted the drug trafficking activities of José Almonte Peña and his associates through the Caribbean and into the United States.
