A man who allegedly told authorities he was recruited by a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization, given fake identification and a trip to Hilo, made his initial appearance in federal court Thursday after Hawaii police found him with more than 11 pounds of methamphetamine.
Luis Miguel Castro-Alavez, aka Jesus Malverde, through a Spanish-language interpreter, allegedly told a Homeland Security Investigations special agent that a Mexican male approached him in a California nightclub on June 15 and recruited him for “work” in Hilo, according to a criminal complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court.
Castro-Alavez, who is “a citizen of a foreign country or unlawfully admitted person,” thought that meant migrant labor. He soon realized the work was to “help facilitate the movement of drug money and a drug shipment.”
Members of the organization gave Castro-Alavez a plane ticket, a fake Lawful Permanent Resident Card and a wallet-sized photograph of his new identity, Jesus Malverde.
Lawful Permanent Resident Cards are commonly known as green cards. They are held by noncitizens who are authorized to live permanently in the U.S.
The LPR card had Castro- Alavez’s photo and another person’s identifying information. Castro-Alavez was instructed to use the LPR card to conduct transactions at Western Union and similar businesses.
Jesus Malverde is widely recognized as the “patron saint of drug trafficking and smuggling” and is believed to provide safety and protection for workers in the illegal drug market, according to the complaint.
After arriving in Hilo, Castro-Alavez was contacted by at least two different members of the organization using WhatsApp mobile phone messaging. Castro- Alavez allegedly told authorities that the two numbers were marked with Mexico’s country code.
He was told to go to Walmart and buy tape, scissors, glue, chocolates and other shipping supplies. Castro-Alavez allegedly told investigators that he gave the organization the name of the Hilo hotel he was staying at.
Castro-Alavez alleged that a man came to his hotel room, took the supplies and presumably unsealed the chocolate boxes, loaded them with money and resealed the boxes. Castro- Alavez could not see everything that was happening and could not confirm how much money was in the boxes, according to the complaint.
The chocolate boxes were put in a small U.S. Postal Service shipping box.
On June 20, Castro- Alavez allegedly took a taxi to the Hilo Post Office, where he mailed the money-stuffed chocolate boxes to an address in Ukiah, Calif., that was “provided to him by members of the organization.”
The organization also allegedly instructed Castro- Alavez to meet another man in the parking lot of his hotel. The man gave Castro- Alavez between $8,000 and $9,000 and “a number of addresses in Mexico.”
Castro-Alavez went to locations that use Western Union and MoneyGram, and sent the money in various increments to the addresses he was given.
Castro-Alavez allegedly told investigators that “based on all that was happening, he knew that the money he was wiring to Mexico was likely related to drug sales.”
On June 22, Castro-Alavez moved to an Airbnb. Members of the organization contacted him, and he gave them the address. He was told to expect a delivery.
On June 28, Castro-Alavez was “contacted by the organization and told to be at the Airbnb as a box would be arriving soon.”
That same day, an HSI special agent was at the Hilo police station when he was told a 911 call came in from an Airbnb owner who “suspected that a recently delivered USPS parcel may contain drugs, and that a male guest of the Airbnb unit was inquiring about the package,” according to police.
The woman put the package in a black trash bag and drove it to the Hilo police station.
Investigators noted “the main contents of the box appeared to be covered by multiple layers of wrapping; specifically layers of plastic saran wrap, carbon paper, and foil.”
“In my training and experience, these layers of wrapping and packaging are commonly used in an attempt to mask or deter law enforcement from detecting the odor of the substance contained within the box,” the HSI agent wrote in an affidavit.
At 11:40 a.m. that day, the woman told police and the HSI special agent the package was delivered to her when she hadn’t been expecting one. At about the same time, Castro-Alavez was pacing by her apartment, asked her if his mail came, looked inside, pointed at the parcel and told her, “That’s mine.”
A Hawaii police narcotics detection dog was deployed and “exhibited a change in behavior indicating the presence of an odor” of illegal drugs.
The next day, a search warrant allowed authorities to open the box. They allegedly found 5,021 grams in two sealed bags.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara D. Ayabe, who is prosecuting the case for the government, declined comment. First Assistant Federal Public Defender Craig W. Jerome did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request seeking comment.
The government’s motion to detain Castro-Alavez before trial was filed Wednesday and will be heard Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kenneth J. Mansfield. Castro-Alavez remains in custody at the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu.
Drug trafficking
Gary Yabuta, executive director of the Hawaii High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a grant-funded program of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, told the Star-Advertiser that historically, notorious national and international gangs have assimilated in Hawaii, and “members obtained employment in conjunction with drug trafficking.”
“Many of these gang traffickers were operating out of storefronts or restaurants, which were also used as drug stash houses. Some of these gang members fled their countries to escape the violent gang culture, but they could never free themselves from their gang identities. Enterprising gangs are almost always associated to cartels,” said Yabuta, a former Maui police chief.
Local drug dealers get supplies from cartel associates on the mainland, who ship the drugs to Hawaii via parcel delivery systems and passengers who smuggle them aboard commercial aircraft in luggage or on their person.
Some Mexican transnational criminal organizations oversee the sale of wholesale amounts of illicit drugs and might maintain visibility into regionally based distribution networks, although “street sales probably are controlled by local drug trafficking organizations and drug dealers.”
“It would be naive to believe that Mexican cartel associates do not exist in Hawaii. The cartels’ networks are sophisticated, competitive and enterprising — not only in drug trafficking, but human smuggling as well. The cartels control everything and are entwined in the Mexican government. Corruption is symptomatic of the cartel enterprises, and producing fake documents or obtaining authentic documents are common and easy practices,” Yabuta said.
Hawaii’s greatest drug problem is methamphetamine, and the “threat of fentanyl is rising.”
Both meth and fentanyl are produced by Mexican cartels, which also control the smuggling of meth and fentanyl from Mexico to the U.S. The cartels have U.S. associates who sell and distribute meth and fentanyl throughout the mainland and Hawaii.
“Cartel associates have been known to transport these drugs into Hawaii and return to their mainland environments with their profits — hard cash — but local drug traffickers primarily control the drug markets in Hawaii,” Yabuta said.
