Caribbean Corridor Strike Force Arrests Two International Drug Traffickers

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — On April 8, 2021, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico returned a superseding indictment charging Jonmeny Barros-Casadiego and Álvaro León Barros-Ramírez with Conspiracy to Import Cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952(a), 960, and 963; International Cocaine Distribution Conspiracy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 959(a), 960, and 963; and International Cocaine Distribution Attempt, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 959(a) and 963.   Barros-Casadiego and Barros-Ramírez are leaders of a Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) responsible for transportation and distribution of multi-ton kilograms from La Guajira and Venezuela into the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, announced W. Stephen Muldrow, United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico.

Between July 28-29, 2022, Jonmeny Barros-Casadiego and Álvaro León Barros-Ramírez, Colombian nationals, surrendered to local authorities in the Dominican Republic. Thereafter, Barros-Casadiego and Barros-Ramírez were transported to Puerto Rico and their initial appearances in federal court were held on August 1, 2022. If convicted of the crimes charged, they face a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Jonmeny Barros-Casadiego was designated as an OCDETF Regional Priority Organizational Target (RPOT) in 2020. The RPOT List includes leaders of significant drug trafficking and money laundering organizations that are primarily responsible for a region’s drug threat.

Since 2020, federal law enforcement authorities identified Barros-Casadiego and Barros-Ramírez as leaders of a Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) responsible for the transportation of multi-ton shipments of cocaine from South America into the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Specifically, this TCO prepared and organized drug shipments that were dispatched and transported by go-fast vessels from the northwest coast of La Guajira and Venezuela to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Cartagena Resident Office (RO), Santo Domingo Country Office (CO), and OCDETF’s Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF), and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico. As a result of the investigation, agents from CCSF, Cartagena RO, and Santo Domingo CO conducted various interventions leading to the seizure of over 18,000 kilograms of cocaine and the arrest and prosecution of 52 defendants – 48 defendants were prosecuted federally in Puerto Rico and four defendants were prosecuted by authorities in the Dominican Republic.

Transnational Organized Crime Section Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan H. Martin from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico is leading the prosecution for this case. The announcement was made by United States Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow and DEA Special Agent in Charge Denise Foster.

This prosecution is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Strike Force Initiative, which provides for the establishment of permanent multi-agency task force teams that work side-by-side in the same location. This co-located model enables agents from different agencies to collaborate on intelligence-driven, multi-jurisdictional operations to disrupt and dismantle the most significant drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations. The specific mission of the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force is to identify, disrupt, and dismantle large scale international drug trafficking and money laundering organizations importing and further transshipping cocaine, as well as money laundering activities.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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