Overview

• Operativo Bobinas Blancas began in March 2017 when U.S. DEA intelligence prompted PFA raids that uncovered 1,376 kg of cocaine concealed in steel bobinas in Bahía Blanca and 486 kg in Luján de Cuyo.
• A Bahía Blanca federal court found Max Rodríguez Córdova, Jesús Madrigal Vargas and Gilberto Acevedo Villanueva guilty of aggravated drug storage in September 2021, sentencing each to 15 years in prison.
• On July 14–15, Argentina’s National Migration Directorate and PFA’s Migration Affairs Unit enforced deportation and permanent reentry bans, transferring the convicts from Ezeiza prison to a flight bound for Cancún.
• Upon arrival in Cancún, Mexican judicial authorities assumed custody of the trio to oversee the enforcement of their sentences under bilateral extradition protocols.
• The case underscores years of U.S.–Argentina cooperation across intelligence sharing, coordinated law enforcement operations and synchronized judicial and migration actions against transnational cocaine trafficking.