Adalberto Fructuoso Comparan Rodríguez, alias “Fruto,” the former mayor of Aguililla, Michoacán, and according to the indictments the leader of the United Cartels organization, made his initial appearance in federal court in Miami after his extradition from Guatemala.
A South Florida grand jury returned an indictment charging Comparan Rodriguez with drug trafficking offenses in April 2021.
Also indicted for their alleged involvement in the methamphetamine scheme are Alfonso Rustrian of Mexico; Adalberto Fructuoso Comparan Bedolla, son of Comparan-Rodríguez; Carlos Basauri-Coto; Silviano González Aguilar and Salvador Valdez.
According to the allegations, in January 2021, Comparan Rodríguez and Rustrian met in Cali, Colombia, with a person they believed to be a money launderer and drug trafficker associated with Hezbollah (“buyer”).
Rustrian explained that Comparan Rodríguez was a leader of Carteles Unidos and that they could supply hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine to the buyer, according to the file. They eventually agreed that Comparan Rodriguez and Rustrian would ship 500 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico, through Texas, to the Miami area, according to the charges.
To make the methamphetamine undetectable, members of the organization hid it inside different materials. On March 20, 2021, according to reports, a truck carrying concrete tiles filled with methamphetamine arrived in Miami. Comparan Bedolla allegedly helped break open the concrete slabs and removed approximately 200 kilograms of methamphetamine. The rest of the methamphetamine (more than 300 kilograms) arrived in Miami on March 26, 2021, court documents say. This time, it was dissolved in five-gallon buckets of house paint.
According to the complaints, Comparan-Bedolla and two chemists (González-Aguilar and Valdez) worked for days inside a warehouse, extracting pure crystalline methamphetamine from the paint. Law enforcement officers seized the methamphetamine before it hit the streets and made arrests.
On March 30, 2021, Guatemalan authorities arrested Comparan Rodríguez based on a provisional arrest request from the United States. The Guatemalan government ordered his extradition based on an extradition request from the United States.
Reference-aristeguinoticias.com
