Two Colombians and a New Zealander have been jailed for their roles in a cocaine syndicate that used farm workers as cover to import millions of dollars worth of the drug.
Between 2018 and 2021, a group of Colombians worked mostly as farm workers in Canterbury but spent their spare time dealing cocaine up and down New Zealand – an estimated $45 million worth in total, The Press exclusively revealed in May.
The syndicate’s likely source was the Medellín Cartel– a ruthless criminal organisation formed by the man dubbed the “King of Cocaine”, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.
Two of the Canterbury-based syndicate – Felipe Montoya-Ospina and David Bonilla-Casanas – played instrumental roles. Together they facilitated imports, laundered stacks of cash and created false identities to help the group evade the interest of detectives.
Montoya-Ospina, 37, worked on a large dairy farm in Hororata after arriving in New Zealand in June 2016. His co-workers said he lived like an ordinary, reliable farmworker, and was responsible and trustworthy.
But in his room at the farmhouse was a workstation designed to dismantle blocks of cocaine using a vice and drill, and acetone used to wash it.
A senior member of the group, Montoya-Ospina imported the drug, received it and then spread it around New Zealand.
He facilitated the group’s first import from Bogota in January 2018.
“You were involved at every stage of the operation”, Justice Cameron Mander said, sentencing him to 14 years, seven months imprisonment at the Christchurch High Court.
“You decided to come to this country and commit serious crime. You knew the consequences.”
The judge rejected defence lawyer Ethan Huda’s suggestion that Montoya-Ospina’s crimes were fuelled by drug addiction.
“I find it difficult to believe you would be trusted by senior members of the group if you were so influenced by addiction to drugs.”
