July 28, 2016
Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel laundered illicit proceeds in Colombia via contraband clothing and footwear products, according to a new report, taking advantage of the difficulty authorities face in stopping trade-based money laundering. In a July 27 article, Portafolio explains how Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel cooperated with what the Colombian news outlet calls “one of the world’s largest contraband gangs” in order to launder a portion of the drug trafficking group’s billions of dollars in estimated annual revenues.
The operation exploited a loophole in Colombian law that establishes tariffs on imported textiles. According to Portafolio, countries that have free trade agreements with Colombia are exempt from such tariffs.