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🇦🇷 Argentina /Crime & Justice

Uruguay to extradite two French nationals to Argentina over cocaine smuggling plot

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • Uruguay will extradite two French nationals to Argentina to face charges related to a cocaine trafficking scheme.
  • The men are accused of hiding cocaine in packages destined for multinational companies in Europe.
  • Argentine and Uruguayan authorities cooperated to uncover the plot, leading to the suspects' arrest in Montevideo.

Two French nationals, Ahmed Adda Belkocir, 46, and Isaac Ben Daoude, 35, are set to be extradited from Uruguay to Argentina to face charges in a sophisticated cocaine trafficking operation. A Montevideo court approved the extradition request from Argentine authorities, who accuse the men of orchestrating the scheme to send narcotics to Europe hidden within packages.

Officials reported that the cocaine was concealed in parcels disguised as shipments to multinational corporations. The operation was uncovered last month by Argentina's General Customs Directorate and Airport Security Police, triggering an international investigation involving Argentina and France. A controlled delivery was initiated to identify those involved in the drug smuggling in Europe.

The case in Argentina is being handled by economic crimes judge Marcelo Aguinsky. He ordered the 11 kilograms of cocaine found in a package to be replaced and a controlled delivery to be carried out in Paris to apprehend the recipients. After dispatching the package, Belkocir and Daoude left Argentina for Uruguay on a flight from Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, before any national or international arrest warrants were issued against them.

"As this is an investigation with international cooperation, the arrests were ordered after completing the controlled delivery so as not to hinder the operation in France, where we know a suspect was arrested," Judge Aguinsky previously told LA NACION. "It has not yet been reported whether this is the final recipient of the cargo or a sort of 'courier.'"

Security camera footage helped investigators identify the taxi the two suspects used to travel to Aeroparque. The taxi driver was located and questioned, leading authorities to a temporarily rented apartment in Palermo where the suspects had been staying. A search of the apartment yielded important documentation for the case.

As this is an investigation with international cooperation, the arrests were ordered after completing the controlled delivery so as not to hinder the operation in France, where we know a suspect was arrested. It has not yet been reported whether this is the final recipient of the cargo or a sort of 'courier.'

· Judge AguinskyExplaining the timing of the arrests in relation to the international operation.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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