LawFuel.com – US Attorney News – Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the extradition yesterday of HORST WALTHER OVERDICK-MEJIA from Guatemala. OVERDICK-MEJIA was charged in January 2012 with conspiring to import cocaine and possessing firearms in furtherance of that activity. He was arrested on April 3, 2012 in Guatemala, where he was detained pending extradition. OVERDICK-MEJIA was presented and arraigned today before the Honorable Robert P. Patterson, U.S. District Judge.
According to the Indictment and other information in the public record in Guatemala:
OVERDICK-MEJIA is a major Guatemalan drug trafficker who was most recently aligned with Los Zetas, one of Mexico’s most violent and increasingly powerful drug cartels. Los Zetas imports enormous quantities of cocaine through Guatemala and other countries in Central America into Mexico, and then transports cocaine to the United States.
Since 1999, OVERDICK-MEJIA has facilitated the importation of cocaine into Guatemala by securing air strips for planes carrying hundreds of kilograms of cocaine. In 2002, OVERDICK-MEJIA was responsible for the arrival of a 1,200-kilogram cocaine shipment at an airstrip in Guatemala, which he and his associates then transported into Mexico using hidden compartments in trucks. OVERDICK-MEJIA ultimately began to oversee the purchase and transportation of cocaine from Guatemala to Los Zetas in Mexico.
During this investigation, Guatemalan law enforcement officers recovered videos of OVERDICK-MEJIA with prominent members of Los Zetas in Guatemala at a “narcofiesta,” a large party they hosted in Guatemala, and at a horse race. Guatemalan officers also recovered a drug ledger detailing the movement of guns, narcotics, and deliveries of money to OVERDICK-MEJIA.
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