Cocaine in the Port Belonged to Ricardo Beltrán aka El Lico

An almost empty container carrying a large number of bales of cocaine marked with the infinity symbol in black and white was intercepted by a Foreign Trade and Customs officer in Ensenada.

The shipment, which is believed to be the property of the Sinaloa Cartel and divided into 300 packages weighing approximately 350 kilograms, was linked to a shipping company identified by its pink label and the ONE logo, like so many that transit through the port on a daily basis.

The intervention of this shipment occurred shortly before midnight on Friday, November 15 on the Iquique Exprés ship, when agents requested support from officers of the Second Naval Region, in charge of security at the port area, which is only accessible to authorized personnel.

Upon inspecting the container marked with the license plate TLLLU6022184, it became clear that, once again, the port area was the scene of a trafficking operation related to internationally organized groups.

The port yards were packed with cargo boxes. According to data from the Port Authority, until August 2024, a complex dynamic had been observed in international trade and logistics in Ensenada, which is reflected in the flow of goods. In the first eight months of the year, the port moved a total of 283 thousand containers.

According to initial data from the investigation by the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), the merchandise, which came from Guayaquil, Ecuador, was destined for Ningbo, China, following a route commonly used by cartels.

It has been identified that the cargo was owned by the Sinaloa Cartel, the armed group with the greatest presence on the Baja California coast, from Parallel 28 to Tijuana, and that they control part of the movement within the port.

The shipping company ONE, which is dedicated to the maritime transport of goods at a global level, describes itself as a company that “mixes and refines different ways of thinking, cultures and skills” to create optimal solutions in transport. With a presence in ports on five continents, ONE assures that it faces challenges in collaboration with its clients and partners, seeking to explore the future of maritime transport in containers.

As in other cases within the port, so far no suspects have been identified nor have any arrests been made related to this crime. The Mexican Navy Secretariat was in charge of transferring the merchandise to the FGR, whose agents will be responsible for its destruction, the corporation reported.

This incident is not the first related to the port of Ensenada. In February 2024, Ecuadorian authorities reported the detention of a shipment of more than six tons of cocaine bound for Ensenada. The operation, called Triste Amanecer, took place in the port of Guayaquil, where with the help of trained dogs, the Ecuadorian police located the drugs hidden in a container made of high-density polyethylene for export.

EL LICO AND SINALOA, BEHIND THE DRUG TRAFFICKING IN THE PORT

The preliminary investigation suggests that behind the movement of drugs in the port of Ensenada is a subject identified as Ricardo Beltrán, known as El Lico, who in the past collaborated with the criminal group of Jaime Daniel Gutiérrez García, nicknamed El Cachis and/or El Toro, both related to the Sinaloa Cartel.

On January 7, 2024, El Lico was traveling in a vehicle with his family, wife and son, when he was attacked with gunfire, leaving a minor seriously injured, who died moments later, when he was taken to the hospital.

According to the investigations, this attack was the result of a feud between El Cachis and his then partner El Lico in Culiacán, but it had repercussions in Tijuana, since in February, Gutiérrez was the target of a shooting.

Months later, the Security Department received a report informing of the presence of three people injured by firearms and the disappearance of a man identified as Carlos Iván Luna Flores, known as El Gasero and/or El Tocino.

The four men were in the Valle Dorado subdivision, owned by Manuel Padilla Murillo alias El Chatarras, a trafficker who controlled the entry and exit of drugs and protected marine species through the port area of Ensenada. In August 2020, he was murdered in a condominium in Mexico City.

A day later, a video was released in which El Gasero is forced to read a letter in which Minerva Pérez Castro, then head of the National Chamber of Fishing and Aquaculture Industries of Baja California (Canainpesca), mentioned:

That is why the murder of Pérez Castro is linked to the criminal conflict.

Prior to these violent events, several properties of El Cachis in Ensenada, such as beer stores, restaurants and a ranch, were attacked with gunshots, fires and attempted arson, although none were reported to the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE).

Among the maritime traffickers who operated for El Lico Beltrán is Alonso Arámbula Piña, known as El Trébol, one of the targets of the armed attack that occurred in May 2023 in the San Vicente district, in Ensenada, during the event called El Cachanillazo. In that ambush, ten people lost their lives.

THE PRICE OF COCAINE IN THE NATIONAL MARKET AND ITS INCREASE IN THE US

The price of cocaine in the national market has been estimated in millions of pesos, with a value between 10,500 and 11,000 dollars per kilogram in Tijuana, according to elements of the State Force for Citizen Security (FESC).

However, once the drug crosses into the US, its price rises significantly, reaching 18,000 or 20,000 dollars per kilogram “delivered in San Diego,” said an agent from the Anti-Drug Investigation area.

The increase in the value of the drug reflects the complex trafficking networks and logistics behind the trade in illicit substances. According to sources consulted, a shipment of these characteristics would cost up to 7 million dollars to the criminal group in charge of the operation.

Federal sources revealed to ZETA that the recent discovery of cocaine is comparable to the seizure of three ships, including the Marshall Islands-flagged Mol Majesty, which occurred in 2020. On that occasion, sailors found more than 3 kilograms of cocaine thrown into the sea from a container ship onto a boat.

This seizure was followed by other successful operations, such as the intervention of the NYK Lira and Happy Dover ships, in which drug shipments were also seized.

Despite efforts to stop drug trafficking, the flow of containers with illicit substances is a constant in the port of Ensenada. According to a federal officer, “the transfer has not ended, many containers continue to pass through every day,” a reflection of the persistent activity of criminal groups operating in the region.

Source: Zeta Tijuana, ECO 1 LVM