How Much Do The Planes That Mexican Cartels Use To Traffic Drugs To The US Cost?

Mica for cartelinsider.com

One of the ways in which criminal groups such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the Sinaloa Cartel transport narcotics is through aerial vehicles, which are usually loaded with drugs to be transported and later distributed.

On various occasions, planes carrying illicit substances have been seized in Mexico, including during the time when Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán had a pilot who helped him transport drugs for the Sinaloa Cartel. Amado Carrillo Fuentes is also the case in Mexico, commonly known as “The Lord of the Skies,” due to his criminal activities carried out with airplanes.

In a recent report, United States Senator Charles E. Grassley presented the case of a man known as Ed Núñez, who owned multiple aircraft that were linked to criminal activities.

In addition to the confession in which said subject assures that he worked for the criminal organization led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, El Mencho, there are records from US authorities that allow us to see the aircraft prices used by criminal groups.

In the document titled National Security Evaluation: Criminal Exploitation of the Federal Aviation Administration Registry, it can be read that vehicles are obtained at a lower price than normal because they are units already in the last years of their useful life.

In other words, the file states that the aircraft was purchased at a price ranging from 5.7 million dollars to over 14 million pesos. In the same report presented by Grassley, it can be read that the acquired units are loaded with drugs ranging from 200 kilograms to two tons of illicit substances.

Anabel Hernández documented the statements of Jesús Reynaldo Zambada (brother of Ismael El Mayo Zambada), who highlighted that the drugs that reach the United States tend to increase their value.

The statements seem to coincide with what was reported by US authorities, as the document presented by Grassley on April 8th shows that one gram of cocaine in Dallas, Texas, costs between $80 – $100 dollars. “The value of cocaine also increases the further north you go in the United States”. This is why purchasing aircrafts is profitable for those involved, as even though they may carry smaller loads of narcotics, if they can reach US territory, then the money could be recovered.

By applying these principles of the drug market, a load of 200 kilograms, the lowest amount these planes transport, is worth between 5 and 20 million dollars in Dallas, Texas.

Transport operations are relevant for criminal groups, even a member of the Sinaloa Cartel declared in a trial before US authorities that “without good transportation, the business would not exist.”

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Mica

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