Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Would you hire marijuana grower as your CSO? The Sinaloa cartel did....

Felipe Cabrera Sarabia is shown to the press under the custody of army soldiers at the federal organized crime investigations headquarters in Mexico City, Dec. 26, 2011. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

When I read a headline announcing Felipe Cabrera Sarabia's capture, I was expecting a guy from Scarface not a guy who looks like he should be at a booth for next year's ASIS conference.  The media and the Mexican authorities have dubbed him Joaquin Guzman Loera's "security engineer".  What that means in the security industry and what that means for the guy who protects the assets and safety of the world's biggest drug cartel are two very dissimilar things.

According to Forbes magazine, "Sarabia has allegedly been running operations for the Sinaloa cartel in northern Mexico". Can you imagine if Steve Jobs had left the daily operations of Apple to his chief security officer? I'm not knocking the person but that's one heck of leap. In addition to finding ways to protect the cartel from the Mexican authorities, Sarabia had the somewhat daunting task of dealing with rival cartels. If you've been paying any attention to events south of the U.S. border, you know this is not getting easier.

How and why Mr. Sarabia earned the moniker "security engineer" are what struck me, given his increased responsibilities since his boss went into hiding. Forbes stated, Mexican army spokesman General Ricardo Trevilla said in a press conference on Monday, "Cabrera and three of his brothers began as marijuana growers and that Cabrera rose through the Sinaloa ranks by using violence against his rivals. In recent months, Cabrera waged war against a rival faction of the Sinaloa cartel known as the "Ms", leading to a surge in violence around Durango."

In this June 20, 2011 photo released by Mexico's Attorney General's office, police from the Federal Public Ministry looks at drums of precursor chemicals for methamphetamine that were seized in Queretaro, Mexico. Mexican authorities have made two major busts in as many months in the quiet central state of Queretaro. In one case, they seized nearly 500 tons (450 metric tons) of precursor chemicals. Another netted 3.4 tons (3.1 metric tons) of pure meth, which at $15,000 a pound would have a street value of more than $100 million. Mexico's most powerful drug cartel appears to be expanding methamphetamine production on a massive scale, filling a gap left by the breakdown of a rival gang that was once the top trafficker of the synthetic drug. (AP Photo/Attorney General's office)

Mexican authorities found 14 mass graves with 287 bodies in Durango.  Cabrera was busy.  Killing is one thing but drug dealing is a whole separate part of his job.  Mexican law enforcement  has seized over 550 metric tons of chemicals used to make methamphetamine, in the last 6 to 8 months.
Mexican police excavating a mass grave in Durango
Just in case you're wondering how do you capture someone like this?  The answer is quite simple - snitches.  I just want you to know I have zero verifiable information to back that up.  However, there a few things the Mexicans admitted that bring me to that conclusion.  They stated not a single shot was fired.  That meant they had actionable intelligence on where he was and how vulnerable he would be when they struck.  You don't get that by listening to a wire all day.  You need someone on the inside and clearly the Mexicans did.

What does this mean for his boss and the cartel?  The U.S. currently has a $5 million bounty for Loera, while the Mexicans want him for $7 million.  Not bad for a guy who Forbes listed as a billionaire with over $1 billion in wealth and was listed as #55 out of 100 on their World's Most Powerful People List for 2011.  As far as the cartel is concerned, who knows.  My guess is they'll capture or kill Loera (my money is on the latter) and they'll proclaim a major "victory".  This will put a very small dent in the overall drug trade, as the international appetite for drugs continues to grow at an exponential rate.  Supply and demand is the law of the drug trade.

If you have any information about the whereabouts of Mr. Loera, call:
1-877-WANTED2 (1-877-926-8332)

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