Tatiana Marset linked to network of chemical precursors seized in Paraguay
Paraguayan police state that Tatiana Marset, sister of Sebastián Marset, maintained direct contact with the head of a network that transported ethyl acetate to Bolivia.
Marset's sister features in investigation into 11,800 litres of precursors
Paraguay's Anti-Narcotics Police identified Tatiana Verónica Marset Alba, alias 'Tati', as a suspected liaison in Bolivia for a network dismantled on 7 October in San Lorenzo, Central Department. According to El Deber, which gained access to the investigation, telephone communications between Tatiana Marset and the main detainee form one of the central axes of the case.
The operation began at approximately 21:00 on Wednesday 7 October with a raid on a property used as a tenement in San Lorenzo, about 18 kilometres from Asunción. Agents from the Anti-Drug Intelligence Division found 30 metal drums of 200 litres containing ethyl acetate, a hydraulic press, a 35-tonne hydraulic jack, two rectangular iron moulds, seven mobile telephones, cash in various currencies and 975 grammes of caffeine.
Hours later, at around 02:00 on Thursday, investigators located a Mercedes Benz truck with licence plate HGK 857 abandoned a few blocks from the property. In its cargo area were another 29 drums. The total seized thus reached 59 containers of 200 litres, equivalent to approximately 11,800 litres of ethyl acetate. Technicians from the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad) subsequently confirmed that the substance corresponded to that precursor, used in processes related to cocaine production.
The Uruguayan who coordinated the shipments
The main detainee is Hugo Javier Fagúndez Suárez, a 52-year-old Uruguayan, identified by investigators as one of the principal architects of the structure. According to Paraguayan police, Fagúndez entered Paraguay periodically to acquire ethyl acetate and coordinate its transport in trucks to the Bolivian border, where the shipments were collected.
Investigators state that Migration had denied him entry to the country on various occasions due to alerts and his risk profile, but that despite those controls he reportedly entered clandestinely to continue acquiring the precursors. Fagúndez has previous criminal records in Uruguay for theft and drug trafficking, according to data cited by Paraguayan authorities.
Each 200-litre drum was allegedly purchased for approximately 700 dollars in Paraguay and resold in Bolivia for around 2,800 dollars, according to data handled by investigators.
The link with Bolivia: calls and payments
One of the central elements being analysed by the investigation is the direct telephone contact between Fagúndez and Tatiana Marset. Police hypothesis holds that Tatiana acted as a liaison in Bolivian territory and that she apparently received or paid for the shipments of precursors.
Paraguayan authorities are attempting to establish how many shipments were made prior to the operation and what the final destination of the seized ethyl acetate was. That link, according to the investigation, connects the operation discovered in San Lorenzo with Bolivia as the destination of the drums.
The dolphin seal and the cocaine moulds
During the raid, two rectangular iron moulds similar to those used to compact bricks of cocaine were also found, along with a small plastic piece in the shape of a dolphin. According to the Paraguayan investigation, that seal appears on cocaine packages produced in Bolivia and would have been used as a distinctive mark of the organisation of Sebastián Marset.
This evidence, combined with the route of the precursors and communications between Fagúndez and Tatiana, forms part of the set of elements that investigators are analysing to determine whether the shipments were destined for the structure of the Uruguayan drug trafficker.
The detainees and their criminal records
Along with Fagúndez, three Paraguayan citizens were apprehended. Juan Alcides Morel Ozuna, 44 years old, is the owner of the raided property; he served a six-year sentence for drug trafficking after attempting to send a parcel containing 18 kilograms of cocaine from Luque airport in 2010. Luis Andrés Rodrigo Escobar Bodnarinc is 33 years old. Óscar Rubén Escobar Espínola, 46 years old, served five years in prison for drug trafficking after being detained in 2017 in Hernandarias with six kilograms of marijuana and phenacetin.
The Paraguayan investigation continues with the analysis of communications and the reconstruction of the shipment route to determine the full extent of the network.
Source: El Deber