Alex Trelinski
TWIN brothers aged 20 and sons of a notorious Mexican drug trafficker have been arrested and extradited to Spain from Hungary.
Patricio and Pablo Lorenzo have been accused for allegedly belonging to a cell of the Sinaloa cartel in Barcelona, led by their father Pablo Lorenzo Ampudia Bernal.
The Policia Nacional said the twins may have been involved in the kidnapping and torture of a Serbian-Kosovar drug trafficker in a settling of scores that ended with his execution and a bogus ransom demand from his family.
READ MORE:
- ‘State of emergency’ in Ecuador: Nationwide cartel violence directly fuelled by the mountains of cocaine passing through Spain’s ports each year
- Watch: Armed police in riot gear seize weapons of war and mounds of cash during raids against a ‘powerful’ cartel in Spain’s Andalucia
- More than a third of stolen electricity in Malaga is used by drug cartels, figures reveal
They are also accused of other crimes linked to the cartel including money laundering.
The faction- in which another 13 people of Mexican nationality were members- looked to import methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana into Spain via the ports of Barcelona and Tarragona.
The brothers were flown to Madrid on a scheduled flight from Budapest on Tuesday.
The latest arrests are part of Operation Balkans, an ongoing investigation into the Sinaloa cartel and how it established itself in Spain under a highly sophisticated operational structure.
Unlike most children of drug cartel bosses, Patricio and Pablo Lorenzo grew up among the European elite.
Their mother, of Hungarian nationality, enrolled them in a prestigious and well-known school in Budapest, attended by children of diplomats and businessmen.
While their father ran drug trafficking operations from a Tarragona villa,, they led a life of apparent normality, surrounded by luxury and exclusivity, hopping between Mexico City, Barcelona and Budapest.
The brothers did not hide their wealth via their social media postings.
Both were featured with high-end Lexus cars, designer clothes, cigars, five-star hotels and references to cryptocurrency accounts with alleged million-dollar transactions.
The Policia Nacional said they were not just heirs to their father’s empire, but active members in the methamphetamine distribution network, with many tasks delegated to them.
The cell received drug shipments impregnated in different materials from Mexico, which were then processed in clandestine laboratories in Catalunya before being distributed across the world, including as far as Australia.
