Drug gang dismantled after 7 years: 15 arrested and over 100 kilos of cocaine seized
The ASA dismantled an organisation that transported cocaine from Buenos Aires to Río Negro. Fifteen people were arrested and over 100 kilos of drugs were seized.
Seven years of investigation conclude with 15 arrested and over 100 kilos of cocaine seized
The Airport Security Police (PSA), under the National Security Ministry, dismantled an organisation dedicated to drug trafficking that transported cocaine from Buenos Aires to Río Negro. According to infobae.com, the investigation lasted seven years and culminated in 15 arrests and over 100 kilos of drugs seized across multiple operations.
The case began in April 2019, when the court ordered the PSA to investigate materials seized in an operation by the then Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP), in which a man had been captured attempting to export narcotics. Four months later, in August of that year, agents arrested a suspect and seized 25.317 kilos of cocaine.
As the investigation progressed, researchers determined that the organisation acquired cocaine hydrochloride in Buenos Aires and transported it concealed in vehicles to Río Negro for distribution. They also managed to identify the gang members, their addresses and the location where they modified the vehicles to hide the drugs.
A supplier in Salta and 19 raids across four provinces
In parallel, agents identified a supplier in the province of Salta. The suspect was intercepted whilst transporting four packages of cocaine bearing the image of "Nemo" in a vehicle; in that operation 4.370 kilos of drugs were seized.
Based on these findings, the PSA carried out 19 operations in Buenos Aires, Río Negro, Neuquén and Salta. The result was the arrest of eight people and the seizure of 36.788 kilos of cocaine, in addition to other items of interest to the case.
The investigation continued in June 2025 with the arrest of two more people and the seizure of over 10 additional kilos. In early May of this year, four raids in Buenos Aires province culminated in the arrest of two men and a woman. During those operations 26.184 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride were seized, packaged in 25 "bricks", cash, firearms and other items.
International connection: French citizens arrested in Uruguay
As part of investigative lines linked to the same trafficking, agents from the Metropolitan Drugs Division of the DGA-ARCA and officers from the PSA raided an apartment in the Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Palermo. The operation is related to the case against French citizens Ahmed Adda Belkocir and Isaac Ben Daoude, arrested in Uruguay following the discovery of two parcels contaminated with drugs at Ezeiza airport.
According to sources in the case cited by infobae.com, the investigation led to a property on Mansilla Street after the apartment's owner—a French citizen—declared that the suspects had rented the property in April and that upon leaving, they left a box on the premises. Inside that box, agents found 11 bricks of cocaine marked with a scorpion logo, with a total weight of over 12 kilos.
Belkocir and Ben Daoude are expected to be transferred to the country next week by an Interpol commission to be questioned by federal judge Marcelo Aguinsky.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires