The arrested people were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated trafficking, manufacture or drug possession.
A prosecutor belonging to the Specialized Directorate against Drug Trafficking brought five people who were part of an illegal organization involved in producing cocaine in Caquetá before the judge.
The people involved are:Carlos Julio Cerquera Reyes, Aura Lidia Carlos Scalante, Emmerson Andrés Álzate Duque, Camila Cerquera Claros and Carla Vanessa Cerquera Claros. These people were arrested in search warant proceedings carried out in several properties in Florencia (Caquetá).
In the operation, that was carried out with the support of the anti-narcotics group of the National Police, four kilograms of cocaine were seized. The evidence collected shows that these people allegedly coordinated the production and trade of illegal substances. To this end, they had their own crops and a laboratory in the rural area of Florencia for processing narcotics.
The investigations carried out by the Office of the Attorney General determined that the drugs were camouflaged in household appliances and packages that were sent through a courier company in Caquetá to Bogotá. Finally, the destinations distributed the substances to illegal gangs involved in retail trade.
To this end, Alzate Duque allegedly took advantage of his status as an employee of that courier company. His role was to collect the narcotics and go undetected through parcels in order to evade the control of the authorities. In addition, he would be the structure’s chemist. He had the power to define which controlled substances should be acquired for processing narcotics.
Information in the Office of the Attorney General’s hands shows that Cerquera Reyes would be the ringleader of the network; in addition to being the one who watched over the finances of the structure, he supervised the farming, production, and transportation of the shipments.
For their part, Carlos Scalante and the Cerquera Claros sisters would be in charge of receiving the shipments in the main city, as well as delivering them to the usual buyers.
The Prosecutor’s Office charged the defendants, according to their degree of responsibility, with conspiracy to commit crimes and aggravated trafficking, manufacture or drugs possession. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
At the request of the prosecutor’s Office, all the defendants must serve a prison sentence.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.