In an operation dubbed “Saturn II,” a unit of the new Honduran National Police elite anti-narco force, the Intelligence Troop and Special Security Response Groups (TIGRES), joined with DEA agents to raid a house in the pueblo of El Porvenir Florida, near Copán on the Guatemalan border — scoring the arrest of one the country’s reigning kingpins, José Inocente Valle Valle. The Valle Valle family is said to control the greatest share of cocaine passing through Honduras.
Three other brothers of José Inocente remain at large, and face trafficking charges in the United States. Troops from the Guatemalan National Civil Police also participated in the raid. Among the items recovered in the house were 12 pieces of solid gold each impressed with the inscription “Sinaloa” — presumably indicating commercial ties between the Valle Valle family and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.
The TIGRES were unveiled earlier this year following training from both the DEA and Colombian National Police.
