US investigating ties between Colorado marijuana dispensaries and Colombia DTOs

US investigating ties between Colorado marijuana dispensaries and Colombia DTOs
Feb 18, 2014 posted by Connor Paige

Several Colombian nationals who own marijuana dispensaries in the US state of Colorado are under investigation into whether their marijuana buisness’ are being illegally funded by Colombian drug trafficking organizations.

Gerado Uribe and several members of his family are among a dozen people currently under investigation for illegal production and distribution of marijuana and laundering money to fund five marijuana dispensaries and six grow houses run by the family and its associates. On November 21 last year, a total of 14 businesses and two homes were raided by Federal agents in the Denver metropolitan area, says the Denver Post.

One of these houses was owned by an associate, Hector Diaz, who reportedly wired over $400,000 from a bank in Colombia to the United States.

According to the Denver Post, he told authorities he intended to use the money to buy a warehouse where he would start a business making coiled barbed wire. The newspaper says that that federal agents have not found any proof to back up these claims, and there is suspicion that these funds may be connected to a “shadow investor” in Colombia.

More:
http://colombiareports.co/us-feds-investigating-connections-marijuana-dispensaries-cartels/