U.S., Mexico Quash Money-Laundering Ring Linked to Colombian Drug Lords

A Colombian who allegedly led a ring that laundered as much as $70 million in drug proceeds and shipped a ton of cocaine to Southern California each month is in U.S. custody, while 12 people identified as accomplices are being held in Tijuana.

Luis Fernando Mejia Pelaez, 50, was arrested at a San Diego-area motel last Thursday. He is charged with 174 counts of making false statements and failure to file currency transaction reports, assistant U.S. attorney L. J. O’Neale said Wednesday. Mejia has been a federal fugitive since 1986, when he was indicted along with eight other people on money-laundering charges, O’Neale said.

According to Mexican police, Mejia headed an organization that laundered between $60 million and $70 million a month. The ring allegedly used three auto dealerships and two currency exchange houses in Mexico to launder money for Colombian drug lords. Mexican officials said that the ring also used banks in New York, Miami, Tampa, Fla., and Panama to launder drug proceeds.

The Mexican authorities described the arrests, which they said resulted from a joint investigation by U.S. and Mexican police, as a major blow to Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel. The 12 people arrested in Tijuana include three women and three Colombian males.

Mejia is being held without bail in San Diego at the Metropolitan Correctional Center and has a court appearance scheduled for today.

When arrested, Mejia was carrying a Mexican driver’s license with a Tijuana address and a Colombian passport, O’Neale said. Mejia also had U.S. tourist and business visas that were issued to him in Bogota.

O’Neale added that Guillermina Watson was named in the same indictment with Mejia and was convicted in 1987 on 206 counts of currency violations. Watson, who was an officer at the now-closed Bank of America branch in Coronado, was sentenced to five years in federal prison and is the only person named in the indictment who has gone to trial.