BROWNSVILLE, Texas – The U.S. government has unmasked one of the main drug traffickers and money launderers for the Gulf Cartel, a man who used his gasoline business in Mexico as a front for operations that reached deep into South Texas.
Authorities are currently looking for Abel “El Cacho” Briones, his wife Myriam Beattie de Briones, and several other relatives and friends. All are accused of working to help launder money or move drugs for the Gulf Cartel, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
The sealed criminal indictment against Briones, his wife, Rogelio Nieto Gonzalez (his brother in law) and Donaciano “Chano” Garcia had been filed last October but was unsealed this week when the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced the indictment. The U.S. Department of the Treasury then moved to designate Briones as a drug trafficking kingpin.
Briones is accused of operating a major cocaine trafficking and cash smuggling network in Tamaulipas, based out of his gas station in Matamoros. From there, using various transporters, Briones is believed to have moved large quantities of cocaine to Texas and Tennessee.
The U.S. Department of Treasury also listed Briones, his wife, their business Combustible Briones SA de CV, and other relatives in the “kingpins” designation – meaning that U.S. citizens are prohibited from doing business with them, and the federal government has moved to seize their assets in the United States.
At the time of this writing, Briones and his associates remain fugitives.
Assets listed in court records include bank accounts at a local Wells Fargo bank in the border city of Brownsville, plus several houses and property lots, mostly located in the Olmito area.
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