Former Colombian Navy Employees Extradited to the U.S. in Drug Trafficking Conspiracy
A pair of former Colombian Navy personnel have been extradited to the United States to face charges related to their alleged involvement in a sophisticated drug trafficking scheme. Jair Alberto Alvarez Valenzuela, 54, and Luis Carlos Diaz Martinez, 32, both previously employed by Colombia’s Armada Nacional, are accused of conspiring to aid a narco intelligence operation designed to evade drug interdiction efforts by maritime law enforcement. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the extradition, stating that the two men will stand trial on an indictment for conspiracy to distribute cocaine, with the knowledge that it would be unlawfully imported into the United States.
Federal authorities claim that Alvarez Valenzuela and Diaz Martinez cultivated sources within the Colombian Navy who compromised the locations of international law enforcement vessels to drug traffickers. The two men purportedly persuaded sailors to install GPS tracking devices on Colombian Navy ships, enabling drug traffickers to monitor the vessels’ movements and ensure that cocaine-laden boats bound for the U.S. could avoid detection. This elaborate scheme highlights the pervasive nature of drug trafficking and the lengths to which criminal organizations will go to facilitate their illicit activities.
The extradition of Alvarez Valenzuela and Diaz Martinez represents the latest endeavor in federal efforts to combat drug smuggling on the high seas. The case underscores the ongoing challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in their fight against drug trafficking, as well as the ingenuity and resourcefulness of drug traffickers. Colombia, the world’s leading cocaine producer, serves as a major hub for drug trafficking operations. According to a federal indictment, drug runners in Colombia transport over 1,000 metric tons of cocaine out of the country via the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean waters.
Law enforcement authorities from Colombia to the U.S. have been engaged in a decades-long effort to dismantle maritime drug trade routes. However, drug traffickers have consistently responded with innovative and often elaborate tactics. These include deploying fleets of fishermen spies, constructing handcrafted submarines, and utilizing advanced technology to evade detection. The case involving the former Colombian Navy employees is a stark reminder of the ongoing battle against drug trafficking and the need for continued vigilance and cooperation among law enforcement agencies.
Attorneys for Alvarez Valenzuela and Diaz Martinez have not yet responded to requests for comment. Spokespeople for the Middle District of Florida, where the case is being prosecuted, have also not responded. The investigation and prosecution of the case involve a collaborative effort among several law enforcement agencies, including the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigation.
Prosecutors allege that the scheme orchestrated by Alvarez Valenzuela and Diaz Martinez was relatively straightforward: install GPS tracking devices on Colombian Navy ships responsible for intercepting smuggling vessels. These law enforcement vessels frequently seize thousands of kilograms of cocaine from smuggling boats. The group Alvarez Valenzuela and Diaz Martinez worked for sought to circumvent detection by monitoring the locations of the primary drug-catching vessels, according to U.S. prosecutors. The two men allegedly recruited sailors to place the tracking devices on the boats.
According to the indictment, Diaz Martinez worked for the Colombian Navy until 2012, while Alvarez Valenzuela retired in 2022. Reports from the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo indicate that Alvarez Valenzuela served as a civil electromechanical engineer at a coast guard station in Urabá. Urabá, located on the Caribbean coast, is a region known for its concentration of powerful drug traffickers.
Court filings reveal that Alvarez Valenzuela, Diaz Martinez, and other former navy officials allegedly paid active-duty sailors thousands of dollars to conceal tracking devices aboard four key vessels: ARC Antioquia, ARC Punta Espalda, ARC 11 de Noviembre, and ARC Toledo. GPS location data included in the indictment details the areas off the Caribbean that these vessels patrolled, as well as blind spots off the coast of Panama and near the shores of Colombia approaching Cartagena. Traffickers purportedly used data from GPS devices to direct "cocaine-laden vessels around Colombian Navy ships," according to the indictment.
The indictment further states that the vessels were tracked between November 2022 and March 2023. Four sailors who placed the tracking devices aboard the boats were also named in the indictment, along with a sergeant and an ensign, a low-ranking officer. According to El Tiempo, the group that the former navy employees worked for is believed to be the Gaitanistas, also known as the Gulf Clan, possibly Colombia’s most powerful organized crime group.
The Clan del Golfo, as they are called in Spanish, is a drug trafficking organization that emerged in the early 2000s. InSight Crime, a think tank specializing in organized crime, reports that the group originated in Urabá, where Alvarez Valenzuela worked, and has since expanded throughout much of Colombia. Urabá remains a crucial area for the Gulf Clan, providing access to the Caribbean and proximity to the Pacific, enabling the organization to control a significant portion of the country’s cocaine exports.
The four vessels that the group is accused of placing tracking devices on monitored Caribbean waters around the Golfo de Urabá, according to GPS location data in the indictment. The range of waters monitored varied depending on the class of ship. The ARC Antioquia, a German-built missile-bearing frigate, is among the most heavily armed vessels in the Colombian Navy. ARC stands for Armada de la República de Colombia.
The Punta Espalda, a coastal patrol boat constructed in Colombia, is primarily designed for intercepting and inspecting potential smuggling boats, according to a Colombian Navy publication. The ARC 11 de Noviembre is another coastal patrol boat intended to apprehend drug traffickers, according to the navy. The Toledo is an American-made patrol boat.
The corruption of authorities responsible for drug interdiction is just one of the many strategies employed by smugglers to transport cocaine to the U.S. undetected by law enforcement. Narco-submarines have emerged as a significant component of the international drug trade, allowing smugglers to discreetly transport Colombian cocaine around the world.
These handcrafted vessels are typically not true submarines, as a portion of the vehicle remains above water. However, they are camouflaged to evade naval patrols and can carry tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine per vessel. Drug traffickers are believed to have adopted narco-submarines as early as the late 1980s, when U.S. authorities intensified their crackdown on the powerboats and low-flying aircraft that were previously used to transport drugs.
By 2009, law enforcement authorities estimated that over a third of the drugs smuggled into the U.S. were transported via submersibles, according to the Washington Post. Drug traffickers conduct surveillance operations to ensure that narco-subs can navigate the waters undetected. A six-man crew of Colombians, charged with using a fleet of submarines to transport over 5,000 kilograms of cocaine to the U.S., established a network of spies disguised as fishermen to monitor law enforcement activity.
These sham fishermen were stationed along the narco-submarines’ routes, alerting the crews to any law enforcement vessels patrolling the same waters, according to the Justice Department.
