18 Fake Journalists Arrested in Nicaragua Are Suspected Drug Traffickers
Authorities in Nicaragua have arrested 18 suspected drug traffickers posing as Mexican journalists and allegedly carrying $9.2 million in cash. One of the suspects has ties to a Mexican gang linked to La Familia Michoacana and the Sinaloa cartel, according to published reports. The 18 pretended they were on their way to Managua to cover a high-profile criminal trial of a man charged with money laundering and facilitating drug shipments.
The suspects, 17 of whom are Mexican nationals, were not, as they claimed, journalists for Televisa, authorities said — but rather cash smugglers who may have been working for a drug trafficking organization themselves. They entered Nicaragua from Honduras on Aug. 22, according to published reports, with forged press credentials. The group traveled in six vans, which bore the Televisa logo; so did their shirts and vests.
The night before they entered Nicaragua, the suspects stayed in a Honduran hotel. A former officer with one of Nicaragua’s security services overheard a conversation among the suspects which he found suspicious, said Fernando Borge, a spokesman for the Nicaraguan National Police. He said that officer alerted authorities in Nicaragua. Police stopped the group when it entered the country, searched the vans they were traveling in and seized $9.2 million in cash.
The suspects had allegedly conspired to use the money to buy large quantities of drugs, Borge said. “They were planning to take all the money to Costa Rica to pay for a load,” he said. The bills were tested and traces of cocaine were found on them, Borge said.