Carlos Morales Davila, said to be Puerto Rico’s most dangerous drug trafficker, was detained by police on a boat off the coast of the U.S. territory.
Morales, alias “Cano Navarro,” was arrested on Monday along with an unknown individual. He is expected to be transferred to Miami, Florida, where he will face charges of drug smuggling.
Morales has been characterized as a “major trafficker” and is believed to have close connections with Colombian and Venezuelan criminal organizations. He is accused of smuggling more than 1,000 kilos of cocaine into Puerto Rico and the U.S., using Dominican Republic as a transshipment point.
This year has been one of the most violent in recent memory for Puerto Rico. A bloody battle for control of domestic drug distribution between Carlos Morales and Jaime Davila, alias “Peluche,” has been blamed for a recent string of murders in Caguas, a city 20 miles south of the capital.