Drug trafficking
Head of powerful drug trafficking clan captured in Honduras, son killed in standoff
Herlinda Bobadilla, for whom the U.S. government was offering a $5,000,000 reward, was captured in Honduras
May 16, 2022 4:06pm
Updated: May 16, 2022 5:32pm
The Honduran National Police captured on Sunday Herlinda Bobadilla, “Chinda,” the matriarch of the powerful Montes Bobadilla drug trafficking clan, which has links to cartels in Colombia, Central America, and Mexico, as well as several criminal organizations in the United States since the 1990s.
Bobadilla was arrested after an "intense confrontation" with security forces in which one of her sons, “Tito” Montes, died, according to the director of the National Police, Gustavo Sanchez.
En un intenso enfrentamiento entre la @PoliciaHonduras y narcotraficantes en las montañas de Colon, se detuvo a Herlinda Bobadilla y 3 personas más. Tito Montes falleció. Esta administración esta totalmente comprometida en lucha frontal contra el narcotrafico. @XiomaraCastroZ pic.twitter.com/Nymhz5edAW
— Gustavo Sanchez Velasquez (@hegusave) May 15, 2022
The United States accuses the Montes Bobadilla criminal group of trafficking drugs into the country through Mexico and Central America. The U.S. was offering a $5 million reward for information on Herlinda, as well as her sons “Tito” and Juan Carlos Montes, who remains at large.
"It is a family-based organization that operates in the department of Colon, Honduras, located on the northeast coast... The coastal base of operations allows the group to receive air and sea shipments of cocaine from Colombia and/or other South American source countries, which are ultimately destined for the United States," according to US court documents cited by BBC Mundo.
🚨#Comunicado
— Policía Nacional de Honduras (@PoliciaHonduras) May 15, 2022
La Secretaría de Estado en el Despacho de Seguridad a través de la Policía Nacional de Honduras en relación con la captura de Herlinda Bobadilla y tres (3) personas más, comunica:
Leer más... https://t.co/lO55S7FQnB pic.twitter.com/Q77IFqUuYl
Noé Montes, another son of Bobadilla, was captured in 2017 and extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to 37 years in prison, Aristegui Noticias noted.
“Chinda” has an extradition order from the United States, where she is accused of drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Montes Bobadilla clan has its origins in Colombia through its ties to the now-defunct Cali Cartel. Pedro García Montes, a Honduran in charge of payments and other businesses, began to create loading, unloading, and drug transport zones in the Caribbean region of his country.
Over time, his business grew. However, García Montes was murdered in Cartagena in 2004 and control of these operations was taken over by one of his family members, Alex Adán Montes Bobadilla.
To strengthen his position within the clan, Alex Adán decided to bring in Herlinda Bobadilla, who was born in October 1961 in the town of Macuelizo.
According to Honduran authorities, Herlinda had married Alejandro Montes Alvarenga, and they had six children. Three of them—Alejandro (better known as Tito), Jose Carlos, and Noe—collaborated with the family clan.
También señalan que Herlinda Bobadilla es presuntamente la propietaria de decenas de viviendas en el municipio de Limón, un área de influencia del clan. Tras la muerte de Alex Adán en prisión en 2014, y la captura de Noé Montes Bobadilla en 2017, la mujer asumió el liderazgo del grupo criminal, apuntó BBC Mundo.
Herlinda Bobadilla is allegedly the owner of dozens of homes in the municipality of Limon, an area of influence for the clan. Following the death of Alex Adán in prison in 2014 and the capture of Noé Montes Bobadilla in 2017, the woman assumed leadership of the criminal group, reported BBC Mundo.
