“Ivan” for Borderland Beat
A Sinaloa national was arrested in Guatemala with an extradition order to the United States, accused of fentanyl trafficking and money laundering using cryptocurrencies.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Civil Police reported that he was arrested in zone 10 of Guatemala City.
The detainee is Sergio Antonio Duarte Frías, 27 years old, originally from Sinaloa.
Duarte Frías is wanted for trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York for drug trafficking and firearms-related crimes and money laundering for the Sinaloa cartel.
The investigation revealed that the defendant directed associates to collect money from various drug traffickers in the United States.
These associates converted the money from cash to cryptocurrency and then Sergio would convert it into cash that he would deliver to traffickers in Mexico as payment for drug sales in the United States.
During the course of the investigation, the defendant also sold fentanyl that was imported by associates into the United States on multiple occasions, asked to collect bulk currency from drug proceeds to convert the money into cryptocurrency, and also discussed the possibility of the use of weapons as valuable goods that could be smuggled into Mexico.