Today, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs is announcing a reward offer under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP) of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction, in any country, of Uruguayan narcotics trafficker and money launderer Sebastian Marset.
Concurrently, the Department of Justice announced today the unsealing of an indictment charging Marset with money laundering charges, stemming from the movement of drug proceeds through U.S. financial institutions. Marset is also a wanted fugitive throughout the Southern Cone of South America, charged with organized crime violations in Paraguay and Bolivia. In August 2023, Bolivian authorities announced a separate $100,000 reward offer for Marset's arrest.
The TOCRP reward offer follows the largest and most consequential organized crime investigation (Operation A Ultranza Py) against cocaine trafficking in Paraguayan history. This investigation linked a criminal network led by Marset to more than 16 tons of cocaine seized in Europe, including an 11-ton seizure at the port of Antwerp in April 2021 and another 4.7-ton seizure of cocaine in Paraguay. The investigation was conducted in coordination with Paraguay's Special Investigative Unit and Anti-Drug Secretariat (SIU-SENAD), the Uruguayan Interior Ministry, Europol, and the DEA Asuncion Country Office.
