Prominent Colombia businessmen accused of building narco-submarines

[Judi Lynn]

Prominent Colombia businessmen accused of building narco-submarines
by Shane Cassidy August 22, 2018

Authorities in southwest Colombia arrested a prominent businessman accused of building semi-submersible boats for drug traffickers.

Rodrigo Pineda, reportedly also known as “El Gordo Balin,” was arrested after a joint investigation by Colombian and US authorities into the use of the elusive submarines in drug trafficking.

Pineda runs a successful heavy machinery sales and rental company, but allegedly modified speed boats to function as submarines that trafficked cocaine from Colombia’s Pacific coast to Central and North America, reported newspaper El Tiempo.

According to the prosecution, the businessman worked with drug traffickers in the coastal province of Nariño, offering them his services to construct semi-submersible vessels. These narco-subs are extremely difficult to detect by authorities while at sea and can carry up to seven tonnes per trip.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/prominent-colombia-businessmen-accused-of-building-narco-submarines/

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142140351


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Translation from Colombian newspaper, El Tiempo: (Time)

From Cali operated the family that built semisubmersibles for capos
Seven people were captured for extradition purposes.

By: Justice August 22, 2018, 12:48 a.m.

Rodrigo Pineda, a respected dealer in Cali, dedicated to the rental and sale of heavy machinery, was captured by the Anti-Narcotics Police accused of leading a structure dedicated to the modification of speedboats in semi-submersibles for the transport of cocaine.

Pineda, known as the 'Gordo Balín', offered to the drug traffickers of Tumaco and Satinga (Nariño) the possibility of constructing semisubmersibles, difficult to detect at sea by the authorities, with a carrying capacity of up to seven tons of narcotic drugs.

"Negotiating the construction of semi-submersibles with Colombian and Mexican cartels. He promised to deliver them in four months and charged two million dollars for each boat, one of the investigators in the case told EL TIEMPO.

The anti-narcotics agencies of Colombia and the United States had been tracking the criminal structure for three years, when the first semi-submersible was located. During this time they managed to seize 8 of these boats, and a total of 21 tons of the alkaloid.


More:
https://www.eltiempo.com/justicia/conflicto-y-narcotrafico/familia-lideraba-construccion-de-semisumergibles-para-enviar-cocaina-258530