Скачать или смотреть US gov't charges 80 people belonging to Colombian drug cartel

(15 Jun 2005)

APTN
14 June 2005, New York
1. Wide shot press conference, pan to pictures
2. Close ups pictures on display at press conference of seized drugs and money
3. Wide shot press conference, pan to reporters
4. SOUNDBITE: (English): David Kelley, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York:
"Over the past several days the Drug Enforcement Administration in New York, Puerto Rico, NYPD members of our joint organised crime task force together with our law enforcement partners across many borders, from Canada to Colombia, have dismantled a massive full-service Colombian drug-trafficking organisation that until his apparent death was led by Gabriel Martinez."
5. Cutaway press conference
6. SOUNDBITE: (English): David Kelley, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York:
"Is is the biggest cartel ever? No. But it's a very large organisation, and not only have we gotten the people who are shipping the drugs, which is what you're typically hearing in these cases, but as John (Gilbride, from the DEA) and Ray (Kelly, from the NYPD) mentioned, we're getting it from top to bottom. We're getting the people who are exporting it from Colombia, the people who are bringing it into the streets, the people who are involved in transporting the money, and the people who are, you know, transmitting the money for the people who bought the money in Colombia, so it's a really top to bottom operation, and this, that's what really distinguishes this case from your typical case that you talked about before."

DEA - handout video and still images
Dates and Locations unknown
7. Various stills of money handover in Puerto Rico
8. DEA video of a so-called "money laundering front", location unknown
9. Secret compartments in car
10. Video footage of bundles of US cash
11. Still picture of heroin
12. Various still pictures of DEA officers making arrests

STORYLINE:

Criminal charges have been brought against 81 defendants in federal courts in Puerto Rico and New York as part of a sweeping crackdown on a giant Colombian drug cartel, American authorities said on Tuesday.

Authorities blamed the cartel for importing more than USD 50 (m) million worth of narcotics into the United States.

The charges are the result of a 27-month investigation targeting the money laundering activities of four Colombian-based money brokers who hid drug proceeds through the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange, officials said.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in a statement that the probe, dubbed "Operation Mallorca," has resulted in the arrests of 36 people in New York, Miami, Puerto Rico and California.

The operation also seized USD 7.2 (m) million in cash, 947 kilograms of cocaine, 7 kilograms of heroin and 21,650 pounds of marijuana.

The DEA release called the Black Market Peso Exchange, is a highly secretive and sophisticated operation, "the largest known drug money laundering mechanism in the Western Hemisphere."

The exchange lets drug dealers evade Colombian taxes and tariffs and gain a competitive advantage over those who import legally, the DEA said.

Following the money has allowed investigators to deny drug trafficking organisations more than USD 500 (m) million in profits last year alone and to increase the amount of money seized from drug dealers by 40 percent, according to the DEA.

The current investigation located 300 illegal financial transfers to 200 bank accounts involving 170 separate account holders in 16 U.S. cities and 13 foreign countries, authorities said.

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