The most wanted Uruguayan drug baron Sebastián Marset was arrested in Bolivia on Friday. This was reported by the Reuters and AFP agencies, citing unnamed sources and Paraguayan authorities. Marset is accused of violating organized crime laws in Bolivia and Paraguay. He was accused of money laundering in the USwrites TASR.
- Uruguayan drug lord Sebastián Marset was arrested in Bolivia during a police operation on Friday.
- Marset is charged with organized crime and money laundering.
- He is among the most famous drug barons in the southern part of South America.
- Investigators associate him with a shipment of more than sixteen tons of cocaine.
- Marset legalized drug profits through purchases and sponsorship of football clubs.
Marset is suspected of leading the international network First Uruguay Cartel (PCU). He avoided the police in Latin America for many years, the Bolivian one managed to arrest him on Friday during an operation in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Hundreds of police officers participated in the intervention.
The French agency describes Marset as the most famous drug lord in the southern part of South America. A reward of two million US dollars is offered for his capture for alleged money laundering. In the United States, he is on the most wanted list and was also wanted by Interpol.
He has been on the run since July 2023, when he escaped from his home in Santa Cruz de la Sierra on the eve of a large-scale police operation aimed at apprehending him. Investigators in Paraguay connected his person to the seizure of more than 16 tons of cocaine, a large part of which was found in the port of Antwerp, Belgium, in 2021.
The Washington Post reported in 2024 that Marset labeled his drug shipments “King of the South” and had the cocaine hidden in cookie and soy crates. According to AFP, the avid soccer fan laundered the proceeds of drug sales by buying and sponsoring professional soccer clubs in lower leagues in Latin America and Europe and even making the first team himself.
