Conroy: Money Laundering & Murder in Colombia
May 19, 2008
Please Distribute Widely
Dear Colleague,
Narco News’ investigation into alleged DEA corruption in Colombia has led journalist Bill Conroy to the discovery of
several documents, the most well known to date being the “Kent Memo.” Now Conroy has uncovered even more info, utilizing
the Freedom of Information Act, which implicates two former high-level DEA agents in acts of dishonesty-under-oath that
likely brought about the murder of a DEA informant, a chemist that had blown the whistle on high-tech cocaine smuggling
techniques.
Conroy reports:
“Informants working for Group Supervisor Fields’ Florida agents sent samples of the cocaine-laced acrylic to the DEA,
but the agency’s chemists couldn’t figure out how to extract the cocaine. As a result, the Florida agents decided to
have the informants come to the United States with a sample of the acrylic, so they could walk DEA’s chemists through
the extraction process.
“…But when the informants got to the airport to leave for the U.S., they were arrested. A DEA agent in Bogotá, it turns
out, had told Colombian officials to ‘lock them (the informants) up and throw away the key,’ according to the Kent memo.
The Bogotá agent then claimed that he had no idea the Florida agents had given the informants permission to transport
the cocaine.
“‘His misrepresentations were backed by another agent in Bogotá,’ Kent states in the memo. The informants were
imprisoned for nine months while the accusations flew back and forth. Once it was determined that the agents in Bogotá
were lying, the informants were released. One of the informants was kidnapped and murdered in Bogotá where he had gone
into hiding.’
Conroy goes on to explain how the DEA’s lack of verification to the Colombian police of a DEA informant eventually led
to his death after being released from prison.
Also learned from the recently obtained FOIA documents is the connection of another former high-ranking DEA
Colombian-branch official in Colombia, Leo Arreguin Jr., to the infamous right-wing paramilitary group, the United
Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.
Get all the information in the breaking story only at Narco News online:
***************