Corrupt federal police from Argentina worked with a Mexican chemist to provide the Sinaloa cartel with liquid cocaine, according to a new report by the Associated Press (AP). A portion of the drugs were to subsequently be sent to the United States.
A total of nine people were arrested in connection with the case, reports state.
According to the AP, Argentine Security Minister Sergio Berni revealed that the corrupt police officers were caught after an internal affairs investigation was launched. It was subsequently revealed that the group of officers had allegedly been involved in numerous illegal activities, including stealing cars and invading houses.
The main activity of the group, however, was collecting cocaine, which mostly came from Bolivia and Peru.
One a substantial amount of cocaine was amassed over a span of months, the officers reportedly solicited a chemist from Mexico to boil it into liquid form. Large amounts of the drug then allegedly travelled from Argentina to Mexico, undetected.
The AP reported that the cocaine was then liquidated–this process involved mixing the drug with oil “inside two huge electricity generators.”
Argentina authorities, who had apparently been tracking the criminal activity of the corrupt federal officers, tracked the large generators. Mexican police were contacted and asked to investigate liquid in the generators–testing revealed 2,000 liters of cocaine in the machines, the AP reported.
The discovered drugs had an estimated street value of $40 million.
Once the drugs were discovered, authorities in Argentina raided the homes of the crooked officers; according to the AP, numerous firearms, suspicious equipment, and computers were discovered.
Referring to an Argentine judge who led the charge against the officers, Berni told the AP, “The important thing is to investigate, to not be afraid, to show courage like this judge did. We know the firepower [the officers] have.”
Breitbart Texas has reported on several incidents regarding public officials who injected themselves into cartel activity and drug trafficking–several such cases have even occurred in the U.S.
Earlier in May, Breitbart Texas reported on 49-year-old Bobby Maldonado, a former Texas State Trooper and deputy. On May 12, he plead guilty to money laundering. Prosecutors accuse him of delivering drug proceeds from interior U.S. cities to the Texas-Mexican border.
The scheme, which allegedly took place over a span of 12 years, involved Maldonado regularly purchasing one-way tickets to cities across the U.S., picking up drug money, rent a car, and then driving the cash back to the Texas-Mexican border. Apparently he received three percent of the funds that he transported.
If found guilty, Maldonado could spend up to 20 years in prison.
Follow Kristin Tate on Twitter @KristinBTate.