Businessman Mario Gómez Lobato, from Dos Hermanas, is identified as the true leader of a scheme that allegedly inflated the revenues of the Puro Latino festival to launder drug money.
The Civil Guard has uncovered a money laundering scheme centred around the music festival 'Puro Latino', held in various Andalusian cities, which allegedly served to launder millions of euros from drug trafficking. After four years of investigations, agents have determined that the real mastermind of the operation is Mario Gómez Lobato, a resident of Dos Hermanas (Sevilla) with no known job, who, however, was hoarding €572,850 in cash at his home.
Investigators found €1,166,875.80 during a search of the home of Pascual Llopis, the public face of the festival, of which €455,150 was vacuum sealed. Additionally, they seized 15 Rolex watches and three high-end cars. However, the investigating judge had already warned in previous proceedings that the true leader was Gómez Lobato.
The Criminal History of Mario Gómez Lobato
Mario Gómez Lobato, from Dos Hermanas, is no stranger to law enforcement. His name is linked to Restaurante La Raza, in the Parque de María Luisa in Sevilla, whose owners reported in 2009 the bribes that led to the ERE case of the Junta de Andalucía. A year later, he was appointed sole administrator of Restaurante Parque, the company that operated the venue until it lost its municipal license.
But his criminal history dates back to 2014, when he and another suspect agreed to destroy one of the installations of the Integrated Interior Surveillance System (SIVE) in Conil de la Frontera. They did this by crashing a stolen 4x4 vehicle into the system and then setting it on fire with a petrol can. The tower, its radar, a communication antenna, and two video cameras, one of which had infrared capabilities, were destroyed. They also destroyed the fibre optic wiring that connected the equipment in real-time to the command centre. The damages amounted to €831,426.30. For this case, the Provincial Court of Cádiz is seeking 6 years in prison.
The Festival as a Front for Money Laundering
According to the investigation, the 'Puro Latino' festival —which started in Torremolinos in 2016 and expanded to Madrid, Almería, Sevilla, and Torremolinos after the pandemic— was allegedly used to inflate ticket revenues and thus launder the drug money. The Civil Guard asserts that the black money is no longer hidden in double bottoms but is laundered in broad daylight, among speakers, VIP areas, and expensive drinks.
The arrest of a Civil Guard agent in another operation, 'Turister', provided further clues. The agent, accused of collaborating with a criminal group of drug traffickers and money laundering, claimed to work for "the owners of several nightclubs in El Puerto de Santa María and the organisation of the festival called Puro Latino."
For the residents of Dos Hermanas and the province of Sevilla, this operation highlights how drug trafficking has infiltrated the leisure industry. The Civil Guard of Sevilla was key in extracting the mobile terminal data from Gómez Lobato in another drug trafficking operation, 'Caramelo', in which 5 kilos of cocaine were seized. This extraction yielded all the information currently under investigation.
A Pioneer in Cocaine Introduction
Investigation sources describe Gómez Lobato as "a pioneer" in the introduction of cocaine in the area. "He started with chocolate and was one of the first to introduce cocaine... to the point that he became half-owner of the Guadalquivir," they state. "He is intelligent, he is no fool," they add. His entry point was Los Caños de Meca, where "several drug trafficking clans from Sevilla" are established, who "all seem like well-off kids, surfers... but they are not, they are not."
Gómez Lobato has other open cases for drug trafficking and money laundering in courts in Jerez de la Frontera and Sevilla. The investigation remains ongoing, and further arrests are not ruled out. Meanwhile, the Puro Latino festival continues to take place, albeit under the shadow of this money laundering scheme.
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