Suspected Guatemalan drug trafficker extradited to the US following joint ICE HSI investigation

SAN DIEGO — Following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), joint law enforcement partner investigation, suspected drug trafficker Rafael Orlando Ramirez Barillas, a Guatemalan national who was extradited to the United States from Guatemala Feb. 10, to face international cocaine trafficking and maritime smuggling charges in the Southern District of California.

Ramirez Barillas, aka “Thor,” is charged in an indictment stemming from a long-term joint investigation led by HSI and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in conjunction with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego.

Ramirez Barillas is charged with operating a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms and more of cocaine in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico and elsewhere, knowing and intending that the cocaine would be unlawfully imported into the United States. Ramirez Barillas is also charged with being in a conspiracy to distribute five kilograms and more of cocaine on board a vessel.

On July 17, 2021, Ramirez Barillas was arrested in Guatemala pursuant to an extradition request from the United States. Guatemala subsequently granted his extradition, and on February 10, 2022, Ramirez Barillas was extradited to United States.

Ramirez Barillas made his initial court appearance on Friday, February 11, 2022 in San Diego before U.S. Magistrate Judge Bernard G. Skomal. This afternoon, U.S. Magistrate Judge Skomal ordered Ramirez Barillas detained pending trial.

During the investigation, the United States Coast Guard made multiple seizures of cocaine from vessels on international waters that were linked to Ramirez Barillas and his co-conspirators. According to the indictment, the conspiracy began on a date unknown and continued up to and including November 2018.

According to court documents and statements made by prosecutors at today’s hearing, Ramirez Barillas was alleged to be the partner of convicted Guatemalan drug trafficker Luis Carlos Melgar-Morales, aka “Aquaman,” who admitted to distributing over 10,000 kilograms of cocaine during an approximately two-year conspiracy. Ramirez Barillas was described as an organizer and leader in the conspiracy to distribute cocaine in Guatemala and several other South and Central American countries. As part of the conspiracy, and as alleged in the indictment and set forth in other public documents, Ramirez Barillas and his co-conspirators coordinated the smuggling of multi-ton quantities of cocaine from South America to Guatemala with an ultimate destination of the United States.

“This office is committed to aggressively pursuing drug traffickers in Central America who use international waters as a corridor to smuggle cocaine to the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman. “This extradition marks the culmination of years of efforts by agents and prosecutors to keep those who flood the United States with cocaine accountable for their actions.” Grossman thanked the prosecution team and law enforcement agencies for their excellent work on this case.

“This case, including last week’s extradition, demonstrates the success DEA and our law enforcement partners have had targeting foreign drug sources of supply,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Shelly S. Howe. “DEA will continue to seize large quantities of drugs before they reach our shores and devastate our communities. Our strong relationships with our foreign counterparts allow us to bring drug suppliers to justice in the United States.”

“This indictment resulted from our collaborative efforts to disrupt transnational criminal organizations and prevent illicit drugs from making their way to the United States,” said Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, the Eleventh Coast Guard District commander. “I am grateful for the hard work of the dedicated women and men of the Department of Justice and the Southern District of California who built this case alongside Coast Guard ships and crews involved in several interdiction cases in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, dismantling smuggling organizations, putting smugglers behind bars and keeping drugs off our streets. I hope our Coast Guard crews conducting counterdrug patrols today in the Pacific Ocean see the effects of this monumental occasion. I cannot thank the Southern District of California enough for their efforts to ensure justice is served to those seeking to harm our country.”

This operation is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.

The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Ramirez Barillas.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

HSI is a directorate of ICE and the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel, and finance move. HSI’s workforce of over 10,400 employees consists of more than 7,100 special agents assigned to 220 cities throughout the United States, and 80 overseas locations in 53 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.