Fugitive ‘Taliban’ drug lord who stole cartel’s 450-pound shipment of cocaine is thrown ALIVE into the ocean with an anchor strapped to his waist

This is the moment a fugitive Venezuelan drug trafficker, known as the Taliban, is thrown alive into the ocean with his hands tied and an anchor around his waist, in revenge for stealing 450 pounds of cocaine – and money – to a cartel.

Reinaldo Fuentes, 68, is seen bound and gagged with bloodstains on the back of his head before his killers struggle to hoist him – and the anchor – over the side of a boat in the Caribbean Sea, near Martinique.

The footage, shared on social media, shows Fuentes staring at the person recording the video. He is then thrown overboard and left to drown.

None of his captors are identified, but one is heard in the background of the video saying “make sure none of our faces are seen” and another later said “he doesn’t there’s no way to save yourself.”

In an elaborate – and ill-thought-out – ruse, Fuentes, a middleman in the Venezuelan Clan del Cartel, had earlier dumped a shipment of narcotics worth $10 million at sea and trumped up a bogus chase by the guards. -ribs to explain that he was not bringing drugs back to his country. bosses and kept the money.

Fuentes is lifted from the raft moments before being thrown into the Caribbean Sea after being accused of stealing millions of dollars worth of cocaine.

He then returned to the water to retrieve the cocaine, repackaged it, and took it to another Caribbean island.

But the project went awry when his bandmates got sidelined, leading to his disappearance on July 17, the day he was invited to a cartel meeting.

Veteran journalist Rafael Tolentino revealed Monday on ‘Esto No Es Radio’, a daily morning show from the Dominican Republic, that Fuentes had obtained a fake national identity document that allowed him to live under the name of Miguel Fulcar in the Dominican Republic, thus making it impossible for it to be detected by the authorities.

Fuentes is said to have been dating a prominent lawyer and caring for his daughter, in the Dominican town of Bonao.

He was originally from Sucre, Venezuela, and had three children from a previous relationship in Venezuela.

Fuentes is said to have controlled drug trafficking in the Bonao neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where he received the nickname “Taliban” due to his illicit dealings with Middle Eastern drug traffickers.

Two members of his organization had already been killed in a shootout with police in Buenos Aires. An investigation led the police to a house where a cache of weapons was recovered from a house in Bonao. The weapons would belong to Fuentes.

Sources said Tolentino Fuentes entered the country on July 14 and stayed there for two days before leaving.

Sources told Tolentino that Fuentes was murdered because he was involved in the theft of a multi-million dollar shipment of cocaine destined for Tortola, the largest of the British Virgin Islands.

Fuentes accepted money for 200 kilos of cocaine and then stole the drugs as part of an elaborate plot. But his fellow drug dealers turned him in.

Fuentes lived in Venezuela, but got a fake ID that allowed him to live in the Dominican Republic after the alleged theft

Fuentes had his hands tied and an anchor tied to his body as he was thrown overboard.

He was kidnapped on July 17 and taken the same day to the Caribbean Sea.

“He still has no way to break free,” one of the men in the background could be heard saying before the video ended.

Fuentes left his Dominican home and was lured to a cartel meeting at an unknown location on July 17. It was then that he was kidnapped and thrown overboard later that day.

In the video, a member of the gang ensured that the faces of the executioners were not shown on film.

Two men then struggled to lift Fuentes from the raft as he had an anchor wrapped around his body to prevent him from escaping. They then threw him head first into the sea.

The video ends with a distant image of Fuentes floating in the water with no effort to save him.

It is unclear whether authorities have made any arrests in the case, although the Dominican Republic military has said the incident did not take place in its waters.

The video ends with a distant image of Fuentes floating in the water with no effort to save him.

It is also unclear how long Fuentes has been linked to the Clan del Cartel, aka Gulf Cartel, considered the oldest active criminal organization in Mexico.

The network began by smuggling alcohol into the United States during the Prohibition era. Once complete, the organization turned to other illicit activities such as gambling, prostitution rings, and the smuggling of other goods.

It wasn’t until the 1980s that the Gulf Cartel dabbled in the drug trade, exploiting the marijuana and heroin market.

Its leader Juan García eventually struck a deal with the once powerful Colombian Cali Cartel to establish drug trafficking routes to the United States due to its proximity to the border – the Gulf Cartel is based in the State of Tamaulipas, in the northeast of the country.

García struck a deal with Cali Cartel leaders, the Rodríguez Orejuela brothers, to manage cartel shipments along the Mexico–United States border in exchange for 50% of the profits.

Extraditions and assassinations of Gulf Cartel leaders weakened the organization’s position in the drug trade.

Cartel cells like the Scorpions, Cyclones, Metros, Panthers, and Rojos went their own way and set up operations in different parts of Tamaulipas.

The organization is present throughout Latin America and has leaders from various countries.

In August, former President Dairo Antonio Usuga David, alias Otoneil, was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States for his role in leading drug trafficking. He was also ordered to forfeit $216 million.

It’s unclear who the current leader is, as fragmentation within the gang has made it difficult to identify a central leader, according to InsightCrime.