The 2nd Control Court of Falcón, Punto Fijo extension, decreed the opening of a trial for seven people accused of drug trafficking and money laundering, among other crimes, said sources in the judicial system.
The defendants are linked to the businessman in the fishing industry César Camacaro, whose arrest warrant has not yet materialized, the source clarified.
The decision to bring the seven defendants to trial was announced last week by Judge Saralee Gómez, who is in charge of the 2nd Control Court of Falcón, where the preliminary hearing was held between May 23 and 25.
At that hearing, Ronald Rattia and Edgar Maurera, representatives of the Public Ministry, spoke, stating that the investigation began on December 5, 2022 with proceedings carried out by officials attached to the Regional Anti-drug Intelligence Unit No. 13 Falcón of the National Command. Anti-drugs of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB).
Said agents carried out the protection of two fishing boats identified with the names of Barba Roja and Biscocho, which were subjected to routine anti-drug security controls, through the sweeping technique carried out by Captain Charris Patricia, attached to the Criminalistic Laboratory N .° 13 of the GNB. The test came back positive for cocaine.
Hence, the Public Ministry concluded “that the aforementioned fishing vessels are used as a front under apparent fishing activity, for the transfer of illicit drugs outside the territory,” according to the accusation.
For these facts, they ordered the opening of a trial against Edgar Bermúdez, Max Thompson, Daniela Villavicencio, Pedro Villegas Gónzalez, Jhanor Suárez Matheus, Alexis José Rojas, Pedro Vincent and Ronmer Gómez.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office tried to have this criminal proceeding filed in another entity other than Falcón state, but the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected this approach, by virtue of the fact that the prosecutors did not substantiate such request as required by law, as is clear from sentence 177 drafted by magistrate Maikel Moreno.
