Uruguayan police arrested Edgardo Fabián Bonino Castro, a drug lord known as 'El Meo', a key figure in a criminal organization from the Marconi neighborhood, located on the outskirts of Montevideo. The criminal is 45 years old and was wanted for several crimes, the Ministry of Interior detailed this Tuesday.
'El Meo' was captured after five raids at different points in Montevideo, as part of investigations linked to Operation Trazador, a police and judicial operation against drug trafficking and money laundering. In addition to the arrest of this drug leader, two men aged 29 and 25 and two women, aged 33 and 20, were detained.
During the raids, $37,500 US dollars, 160,000 Uruguayan pesos (about USD 4,000), a Glock pistol with filed-off serial numbers, a magazine and ammunition, a .22 caliber pistol with a magazine, drugs, cell phones, and three vehicles were seized.
'El Meo' grew up in the Marconi neighborhood, one of the areas on the capital's outskirts affected by clashes between criminal groups. However, although his area of influence remained there, the now-detained man no longer lived in that neighborhood. For this reason, this Tuesday the police carried out operations in the residential neighborhood of Parque Carrasco, located on the border between Montevideo and Canelones.
The apartment building where 'El Meo' lived faces a lake, reported the news program Telemundo, on Channel 12. It was there that the weapon and the US dollars in cash were seized...
AI Brief
Your highlights
'El Meo', a narco boss arrested by police in Uruguay (@EPreve)Uruguayan police arrested Edgardo Fabián Bonino Castro, a narco boss known as 'El Meo', a key figure in a criminal organization from the Marconi neighborhood, located on the outskirts of Montevideo. The criminal is 45 years old and was wanted for several crimes, the Interior Ministry detailed this Tuesday. The fall of 'El Meo' came after five raids at different points in Montevideo, as part of investigations linked to Operation Trazador, a police and judicial operation against drug trafficking and money laundering. In addition to the arrest of this narco leader, two men aged 29 and 25 and two women, aged 33 and 20, were detained. In the raids, $37,500 US dollars, 160,000 Uruguayan pesos (about USD 4,000), a Glock pistol with filed-off serial numbers, a magazine and ammunition, a .22 caliber pistol with magazine, drugs, cell phones and three vehicles were seized. Weapon seized where the operation in which El Meo fell took place (Ministry of the Interior)'El Meo' grew up in the Marconi neighborhood, one of the areas on the capital's outskirts affected by clashes between criminal groups. But although his area of influence was still there, the now-arrested man no longer lived in that neighborhood. For that reason, this Tuesday police carried out operations in the residential neighborhood of Parque Carrasco, located on the border between Montevideo and Canelones. The apartment building where 'El Meo' lived faces a lake, reported the Telemundo news program on Channel 12. It was there that the weapon and the cash dollars were seized. This criminal was dedicated to the importation of pasta base and cocaine. These substances were then distributed to different criminal groups, which later sold them at the various drug points in Montevideo. 'El Meo' had significant influence in Marconi. In fact, many of the shootouts recorded in the area were linked to him, that outlet reported. Another raid related to this case was carried out in the Punta Gorda neighborhood, a residential area of Montevideo. The operation took place at another house that had been rented by the criminal.'El Meo' resided in these two homes. Carlos Andrés Migales Viera, the Uruguayan narco murdered in Palermo in an alleged settling of scoresOne of the detained women is his partner and the other was the girlfriend of Carlos Andrés Mirales, the Uruguayan who was the victim of a narco crime in Buenos Aires on November 4. The woman was the first to see the hitmen who arrived at the Palermo apartment to kill her partner. She screamed in terror and called for help. Mirales was in the bathroom and knew they were coming for him. He tried to close the door, but they lunged at him. One of the nine shots went through his abdomen and was enough to take his life. Everything happened in two minutes and she, the widow arrested this Tuesday, was there. The police interventions carried out by the Interior Ministry in Uruguay have allowed the operational capacities of 22 criminal structures to be affected, in some 1,800 raids carried out. The government's strategy is to target three sensitive flanks of these structures: the leaders, the drugs and the money. Therefore, the police interventions aim at arrests, seizures and money laundering. A few weeks ago, in Parliament, the Interior Minister, Carlos Negro, listed the names of narcos who fell. He mentioned Luis Fernández Albín, Luis Alberto 'Betito' Suárez, Loly Suárez Correa, Rodrigo Lescano, Ricardo Cáceres Correa, José Carlos Machado, Axel Joel Mattos, Eduardo Félix Farías and Raimundo de Souza, two members of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC). The Director of Investigations, Julio Sena, the director of the Uruguayan police, José Azambuya, and the Interior Minister, Carlos Negro (Ministry of the Interior)"These are just some names of the people who were arrested in this period. Each of them holds important positions in the criminal structures that have been targeted," Negro described after mentioning each of them. With 'El Meo', one more is added to the list.