César Enrique Guihurt Reis, 33, is being targeted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Investigation Agency (HSI), which are assessing whether issue a request for extradition cap United States where the man is syndicated for crimes that attack national security.
Guihurt was captured in mid-July in Barranquilla, in an operation against the international arms trafficking, Advanced by the Fiscal and Customs Police (Polfa), the Attorney General’s Office and the Directorate of Taxes and National Customs (Dian).
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According to a Polfa investigator who has been at the forefront of the case, Guihurt, known as the ‘tsar of arms trafficking’, arrived in the United States in 2014; there he engaged in car theft and auto parts traffic.
Precisely in the midst of this criminal activity the man knew in detail how the commissions moved and how they could circumvent the controls to camouflage elements, initially auto parts of high-end cars the value in Colombia could triple.
“Guihurt came and went from the United States. In Barranquilla he led a life full of eccentricities and ‘traqueto’ luxuries. He surrounded himself with women, visited high-level places and spent excessively,” the researcher noted.
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He had rented a fifth house in the Atlantic capital where he held parties continuously, regardless of the pandemic. In fact, when Guihurt was captured, he was at an electronic party.
Arms trafficking: order mode
César Enrique Guihurt, 33, could be extradited by the United States. UU.
Fiscal and Customs Police, Polfa.
Guihurt partnered with Francisco Joseph Arcila Ramírez, alias Pacho, to send weapons from the United States to Colombia under the form of encomiendas.
How did they do it? According to the investigator, they sent the weapons (in parts, unarmed) camouflaged on consignments of appliances or communications equipment.
These consignments could not exceed a weight of 20 kilos and their shipment would have to cost a maximum of $ 2,000 so that it would not be considered an export to customs terms.
Such charges are not verified as they are based on the “good faith” of the alleged sender, authorities have noted.
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Guihurt and Arcila took advantage of that a United StatesBased on the Second Amendment, citizens can buy weapons freely arguing their personal protection.
Her modus operandi, Points out the Tax and Customs Police, consisted of locating American citizens who were in charge of buy weapons and of register them. After a while, they filed a complaint for theft and these weapons (pistols, revolvers and even rifles) were the ones they sent to Colombia on orders or urgent shipments by air.
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Prior to the shipment, the men altered the identification system of each weapon, “to prevent the authorities from tracking or tracking it,” the researcher noted.
Since 2018, 71 rifles have been confiscated under the form of commissions.
Fiscal and Customs Police, Polfa.
The business is round, as an AR-15 rifle in the United States can cost $ 3,000, about 12 million pesos; while in Colombia it is between 30 and 35 million pesos.
A Glock 19 generation 5 pistol in the United States is bought for $ 1,800, but in Colombia its value is over 12 million pesos; and a FN Five-Seven pistol (known as ‘kill cops’) is bought for $ 7,000 in the United States, but at 50 million pesos in Colombia.
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In Colombia, arms ownership is under the control of the stateThat is, their purchase and sale is restricted and special permits are required to carry or possess a weapon. However, the illegal arms market is putting in the hands of individuals all kinds of items, even high-impact and lethal.
The capture of Arcila Ramírez, in January 2019 a Florida (USA), It was based on the exchange of information between federal agencies and the Powder, who managed to gather evidence to accuse him of distributing firearms without the required license, make false statements to a federally licensed and conspiracy-licensed arms dealer to swindle the United States.
This capture left Guihurt on the radar of the authorities, who according to the investigation was in charge of Barranquilla to coordinate the receipt of orders or urgent shipments, attach each piece of the weapon and market it to criminal networks such as the eln, The ‘Golf Clan’ and at the time until ‘the furry ones‘.
Investigators noted that some drug traffickers are requesting the shipment of Five Seven pistols, considering that for their value and significance in the underworld they give them status.
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In March of this year, the main test against Guihurt took place, the confiscation in Barranquilla of two rifles, two essential parts for a Five Seven pistol and 16 pistol magazines.
Agencies and Polfa seal agreements
Colonel Gelber Cortés Roda is the director of the Polfa.
Fiscal and Customs Police, Polfa.
In the midst of this scenario, the authorities of the United States and Colombia joined forces to curb arms trafficking.
“The criminals are confident that there is no way to track the weapons and this is not so true, because agencies in the United States have reached agreements with the weapons manufacturers and have embedded a hidden number,” he told THE WEATHER the Colonel Gelber Cortés Roda, Director of the Fiscal and Customs Police (Polfa).
He noted that the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agency (AFT) has been at the forefront of this process to combat international arms trafficking.
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Colonel Cortés assured that in a coordinated work with the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs and the Immigration and Customs Control Service of the United States, it has been possible to identify criminal structures dedicated to the arms trafficking of fire that “offend in the metropolitan areas of Cali, Medellín, Bogotá, Barranquilla and bordering municipalities, which use the customs modality of postal traffic and urgent shipments for their action “.
The director of the Polfa stated that since 2018 13 operations have been carried out, which have allowed the capture of 71 people linked to arms trafficking. This crime, in Colombia, gives one sentence between 14 and 17 years in prison, Because crimes are added to it as a concert to commit crimes.
In the midst of these operations, 71 rifles and 52 pistols were confiscated. (See chart).
Colonel Cortés pointed out that in Colombia a very strong work is being carried out, for the exchange of information in real time and of an operational nature, with the International Judicial Police (ICE / HSI, Embassy of the United States).
Thus, they have managed to confiscate weapons and ammunition that had arrived in the country “because the confiscations are not only done at the airport. Follow-ups and investigative tasks are carried out that have allowed us to concretize the aforementioned results,” he pointed out.
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