Mexican linked to Sinaloa cartel up for DOJ probe

MANILA, Philippines—The Mexican national arrested in a P12-million drug bust in Makati City last week, allegedly one of the top leaders of the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, is set to be presented in the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Jan. 22.

Horacio Hernandez, 39, is required to appear at the DOJ for the preliminary investigation of the drug trafficking complaint filed against him. He is expected to file his counter-affidavit, Assistant State Prosecutor Juan Pedro Navera said on Saturday.

“This is among the biggest drug cases involving foreign nationals that I’ve handled and the first involving a Mexican national,” Navera told the Inquirer.

Agents of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and the Anti-Illegal Drugs Special Operations Task Force (AIDSOTF) of the Philippine National Police entrapped Hernandez in a drug transaction arranged just outside a hotel on Makati Avenue on Jan. 11.

The suspect was arrested upon producing about 2.5 kilograms of cocaine worth P12 million for the undercover agents.

Presented for inquest the following day, Hernandez has since remained in PDEA custody.

The police described Hernandez as one of the top operators of the Sinaloa cartel, which is considered by US authorities as the most powerful drug organization in the world and whose presence in the Philippines was confirmed in 2013.

PDEA spokesperson Derrick Carreon earlier said the suspect, a native of Sinaloa, Mexico, was staying at a Makati apartment prior to his arrest.

AIDSOTF spokesperson Chief Insp. Roque Merdegia added that Hernandez was ‘’No. 3 or 4” in the cartel hierarchy but that he apparently wanted to establish his own drug ring in Southeast Asia.

Merdegia said the task force first heard of Hernandez’s involvement in the Mexican drug cartel in December 2013, when authorities seized 84 kilos of shabu in Lipa City on Christmas Day. Three suspected members of the drug ring were then arrested.

Hernandez has been in the country since early 2013, establishing contacts for his own drug operation in the region and transacting only in US dollars, he added.