President of Emtrasur on the discovery of cocaine in Maiquetía

After the alleged seizure of Three tons of cocaine at the Simon Bolivar International Airport from Maiquetía, It was reported that César Pérez Salas, president of Emtrasur, a subsidiary of Conviasa, was arrested for this case.

This information, however, was denied by Ramon Velasquez Araguayan, Minister of Transport: «Through criminal social networks, we seek to position the fake news indicating that the president of Emtrasur, a company affiliated with Conviasa, is detained.”

He pointed out that “the correct information” is that due to the intervention of the Bolivarian National Guard, the shipment of three tons of cocaine was supposedly thwarted. They were camouflaged in coffee packaging “from Colombia.”

According to the official, the “criminal gang” had links with the Colombian company Rasgos and He intended to “impregnate a plane” of Conviasa with the tons of cocaine to later take them to Russia.

Then, he added, they would try to take them to Afghanistan using a Turkish Airlines plane.

The minister did a post on X, even though the social network premains blocked in Venezuela by decision of the regime to which it belongs.

Through criminal social networks, they are trying to position the Fake News indicating that the president of EMTRASUR, a company affiliated with CONVIASA, is detained. The correct information is that, thanks to the timely intervention of the Bolivarian National Guard, the shipment of 3… pic.twitter.com/x1HuWYzLKw

— Ramon Celestino Velasquez Araguayan (@rvaraguayan) August 26, 2024

Minister Velasquez He did not indicate whether the president of Emtrasur was acting as a witness and “collaborating” with the investigations, as reported by some Chavista journalists.

Madelein García, also through X, said: “The idea was to hire Conviasa’s cargo service (and) the airline’s cargo manager, César Pérez, who is also president of Emtrasur, warned of the situation. That is to say, César Pérez is not under arrest, he is a witness and is collaborating with the investigation.”

13 arrests reported

Eligio Rojas indicated that 13 people have been arrested in this case. Among them are Bárbara Gislaine Durán Almada, who allegedly paid the freight for the transport of the cargo; Mario Ricardo Prado Medina, in charge of bringing the drugs in from Colombia through trails, and Daniel Alfonso Arévalo Chirinos, alleged collaborator in smuggling.

It was also learned that the stash was packaged in the state of Táchira by the marketing company Café El Faraón, whose owner, Daniel Sepúlveda, is said to have fled to Cúcuta, Colombia.