The Spanish Raúl Moreno Carazo, one of the alleged drug traffickers most wanted in Europe, was captured in a luxurious apartment in Bogotá where he had taken refuge after fleeing Spain, the Colombian Police reported this Thursday.
The director of Criminal Investigation and INTERPOL, Brigadier General José Luis Ramírez Hinestroza, said that Moreno, 45, is “required (by Spain) by a red notice for the crime of drug trafficking”.
The Directorate of Judicial and Investigation Police (Dijin, of the Police) reported in a statement that Moreno allegedly belongs “to a transnational criminal structure dedicated to cocaine trafficking, which was stored in fruit containers and shipped from Colombia to the port of Valencia in Spain, to later be distributed on the European continent.”
Careful investigation
According to investigations by Colombian authorities, Moreno fled Spain in October 2020 after realizing that he was “in the eye of the Spanish authorities” for his activities related to drug trafficking.
Moreno, according to the Colombian Police, commanded an operation in Valencia (Spain) to recover a shipment of 1,861 kilos of cocaine.
It all started because drug traffickers had a “trusted driver” in a transport company who on June 16, 2020 had to divert the container to an agreed point in Valencia and there take out the cocaine stashesaccording to the police report.
However, that carrier was not there that day and was replaced by another that did not know the plan and took a different route than the one the drug traffickers had planned.
“Due to this, Moreno Carazo led a criminal operation orordering three other people to recover the shipment of 1,861 kilograms of cocaine“explained the police.
The group intercepted the truck and attempted to bribe the driver to change course or hand over the vehicle to them. However, he did not accept.
“Given the driver’s refusal, the four men They tried to kidnap him and put him in a car, which caught the attention of several people who were in the area, who notified the authorities,” the information added.
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The Spanish Civil Guard inspected the cargo and found 1,861 kilos of cocaine camouflaged in the bags of pineapple juice. Faced with this operation and with the purpose of evading the control of the authorities, Moreno “undertakes flight and arrives in Colombia in October 2020.”
However, the work of International cooperation which involved the Colombian authorities and the Civil Guard, Moreno was captured “in a luxurious apartment in the north of Bogotá.”