Nicaraguan authorities seize 502 kilos of cocaine in Jinotega

The authorities of Nicaragua carried out one of the largest cocaine seizures of the year after confiscating 502 kilos during an operation in the municipality of Wiwilí, province of Jinotega, bordering Honduras, as reported this Thursday by the Army and the National Police. The operation resulted in the capture of two Nicaraguan citizens and the seizure of two trucks, a truck and a firearm. A third suspect, identified as Jonathan Garmendia Barrientos, remains at large. According to reports from the EFE international news agency, the anti-drug operation took place the day before, when security forces raided the home of Garmendia Barrientos, whose residence was key in the logistics of the drug’s transfer. During the intervention, Darwin Wilfredo Castellón Rodríguez, a truck driver, and Jairo Josué Rodríguez Cruz, a van driver, both with license plates from Managua, were arrested. The authorities point to them as responsible for the transportation and custody of the illicit substance, property of the fugitive. In the inspection of the heavy cargo vehicle, the officers found 440 rectangular packages wrapped in adhesive tape, which after the field test yielded a positive result for cocaine. The total weight was 502 kilos (1,107 pounds), an amount that represents the second largest seizure so far this year in the country, only surpassed by the 1,312 kilos (2,893 pounds) seized in March at the border post of Peñas Blancas, bordering Costa Rica. We recommend reading: The co-director of the National Police, Victoriano Ruiz, explained in a joint appearance with high-ranking officials of the Army that the operation is part of the security strategy known as Containment Wall. This policy’s main objective is to stop the flow of drugs and money related to drug trafficking in the national territory. According to Ruiz, to implement this strategy, the country maintains close cooperation ties with the countries of the region, as well as with United States, Mexico and Russia. Soldiers from Nicaragua and Russia shake hands with serious expressions, with the flags of both countries clearly waving in the background, marking a moment of diplomacy and military cooperation. (Illustrative Image Infobae) According to information released by EFE, the drugs, vehicles, and weapon seized were placed under the custody of the authorities, while the two detainees face charges of drug trafficking and illicit association. Meanwhile, a search operation was launched to locate Garmendia Barrientos, identified as the main person responsible for organizing the transfer.

Nicaragua, a Strategic Point in Drug Trafficking

The location of Nicaragua in the Central American isthmus makes it a strategic point within the drug trafficking routes that connect the producing countries of South America with the markets of North America. The country is considered by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and other international agencies as a high-transit corridor for illicit substances, a situation that has motivated the intensification of controls and coordinated actions between national and international forces. The EFE agency detailed that the volume of drugs seized in this latest operation has only been surpassed this year by the seizure in March, when the authorities intercepted more than a ton on the southern border of Nicaragua. On that occasion, the 1,312 kilos (2,893 pounds) of cocaine were also hidden in cargo vehicles, in a modality similar to that detected in Jinotega. An international operation dismantled the transfer of a shipment valued in the millions. The vehicle crossed three borders before being discovered. The case exposes a network with multiple ramifications (Photo courtesy of Visión Policial Nicaragua) Authorities insist that the “Containment Wall” policy has allowed for an increase in seizures and the dismantling of part of the transnational networks operating in the region. According to official data, the country maintains ongoing cooperation with various foreign agencies for the exchange of information and the coordination of joint operations. “We are committed to the fight against drug trafficking and to protecting the population from the effects of this crime,” highlighted Victoriano Ruiz during the conference reported by the international news agency Agencia EFE. The official emphasized that the joint participation of the Army and the National Police has been fundamental to the success of recent operations. The case remains under investigation, while the authorities intensify patrols and controls in the border areas of the north of the country, considered vulnerable because the lack of land surveillance in some sections facilitates the illegal passage of people and goods and, as a consequence, the porosity of the borders with Honduras favors drug trafficking.