Colombia Nabs Eight in $42M Crypto-Fueled Drug Money Laundering Case

Colombia's Attorney General's Office announced Wednesday that eight people were detained in a multi-city operation against networks accused of laundering drug trafficking proceeds through digital assets. Police CTI officials and the national army moved across Cajicá, Maicao, Barranquilla and Bogotá to make the arrests, working alongside U.S. intelligence authorities.

Among those captured was Guillermo Carpio Cárdenas, known as “Gallo,” described as the head of one of the groups, according to Bitcoin.com News. Also named were Alex Alberto Castillo Gómez, Jhon Jairo Torres Peláez, Nizar Hachem Sawan, Andrés Mauricio Guarnizo Vaca, Danilo Andrés Hernández Junco and Juan Daniel Arenas Uribe.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico alleges that ring ran a scheme to move and disguise drug money using a deposit network, crypto tokens and smurfing — breaking transactions into small amounts to slip past financial intelligence units.

Separately, Nassim Orfale Vasquez was picked up in Barranquilla. He was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over his role in a structure that laundered drug trafficking funds via cryptocurrency transactions. The IRS says Vasquez processed more than $42 million in suspicious crypto transactions since 2018, and investigators are looking into whether a larger organization operates from Colombia's coast.

The attorney general's office said the detainees will go through extradition procedures under Colombian law with due process respected. The sweep follows the takedown of a stablecoin laundering network run by Leonardo de Jesus Zuluaga Duque, known as “Rey,” who was sentenced to 160 months in federal prison.

Colombian President Abelardo de La Espriella has made extraditions to the U.S. a priority, with a particular focus on drug trafficking groups, a hard-line stance that has drawn criticism even as he ranks as Latin America's third most popular leader, per Bitcoin.com News.