https://houstonlanding.org/40-charged-in-money-laundering-operation-tied-to-mexican-drug-cartel/

Federal authorities announced Friday that 40 people have been charged in connection with a complex money laundering operation that used cell phones to funnel proceeds from drug sales to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels.

More than half of those charged are from the Houston area, with approximately 29 defendants already arrested, officials said.

The arrests conclude a 21-month investigation dubbed Operation Noch, according to Jennifer Lowery, acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas.

According to Lowery and other law enforcement officials, the scheme worked as follows: Drugs smuggled into the United States by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (JNGC) were sold, and the proceeds were used to buy cell phones at various stores, including two in the Houston area. The phones were then shipped to Mexico, where they were sold at inflated prices, with the profits funneled back to the cartel.

The owners of the two Houston stores – Nabeel Iqbal and Asad Wali Kesaria – have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments and laundering of monetary instruments. Each charge carries up to 20 years in prison.

The scheme was largely dismantled when law enforcement set up an undercover cell phone store in Houston. Over the course of nine months, undercover investigators collected more than $6.8 million in illicit drug proceeds, said Daniel Comeaux, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Houston field office.

“We took their money, we helped them, and now they’re going to jail and they will pay for it,” Comeaux said. Officials declined to disclose the location of the undercover store.

Lowery said the coordinated law enforcement investigation, which spanned Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and parts of Texas, resulted in the seizure of $3.2 million in cash, along with 754 kilograms of cocaine, 588 kilograms of Alprazolam, 111 kilograms of methamphetamine, six kilograms of heroin, and four kilograms of fentanyl.

Among those charged is Francisco Jaramillo-Valdovinos, also known as Chico Jaramillo, who officials allege is a high-ranking “commander” with the JNGC, whose goal has been to become the leading global supplier of illicit drugs, according to a 2019 DEA report shared with the Louisville Courier-Journal. Jaramillo, along with nine others, is considered a fugitive in Mexico.