ICE removes Colombian crime syndicate leader

PHILADELPHIA — On Monday, March, 29, Officers with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) removed an Colombian crime syndicate leader sentenced to prison in connection with his role in a conspiracy to invest the proceeds from the sale of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.

Fredy Alonzo Mira Perez, a/k/a Fredy Colas 54, of Medellín, Colombia, was sentenced by the U.S. District Court in Boston to seven years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $25,000 fine, and forfeiture of $4 million.

From approximately 2001 to September 2014, Mira Perez was a high-ranking member of La Oficina de Envigado (Oficina) a Colombia-based organized crime syndicate involved in the distribution of thousands of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia to locations worldwide, including the United States. Among other things, the organization served as a debt-collection agency for narcotics traffickers; controlled the flow of narcotics through Medellín and its surroundings; and invested in shipments of narcotics to the United States and elsewhere around the world. Members of Oficina have been known to employ kidnapping, violence and extortion to achieve these ends.

As one of the leaders of Oficina, Mira Perez conspired with others to import cocaine into the United States and to invest the proceeds from those sales. For years, including from 2012 to 2014, Mira Perez’s served as Oficina’s principal debt collector. Mira Perez also was responsible for the collection of debts on behalf of other drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico and Colombia. These organizations contracted with Oficina to recoup missing drugs and drug proceeds. Among other things, Mira Perez adjudicated disputes regarding any drugs or drug money that was lost, stolen or seized by law enforcement, and he conducted investigations to determine which parties would bear responsibility for the missing drugs and drug money. Mira Perez then set a repayment schedule. Mira Perez typically charged a forty-percent commission on behalf of Oficina for all recovered drug money and he invested the commissions to fund the ongoing operations of Oficina.

Mira Perez surrendered to U.S. law enforcement officials in Bogotá, Colombia in March 2015, and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to invest illicit drug profits in April 2015. The U.S. Treasury Department, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), sanctioned Mira Perez and assigned him to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list based on the aforementioned activities.

Today, he was handed over to Columbian officials without incident.

ICE is charged with enforcing federal immigration laws enacted by Congress.

Members of the public who have information about foreign fugitives are urged to contact ICE by calling the ICE Tip Line at 1 (866) 347-2423 or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. They can also file a tip online by completing ICE’s online tip form.