Marco Ebben, a top European drug trafficker, was fatally shot in Mexico. He previously faked his death to evade capture.
Ebben was 32 years old and a convicted drug trafficker. Europol listed him as a top fugitive, linked to global drug trades for years.
In 2020, officials sentenced him to seven years in prison for smuggling cocaine in pineapple containers. Accomplices helped him in this crime.
The smuggling, which happened from 2014 to 2015, moved drugs from Brazil to the Netherlands. Details of Ebben’s death remain unclear, but rivals likely targeted him. He was reportedly in a parking lot in Atizapán de Zaragoza.
After his 2020 conviction, he fled Europe to hide, Europol thinks. An international search started then, and since 2023, he lived in Mexico under a fake name.
Officials suspected Ebben had cartel ties, knowing the Mexican Sinaloa cartel for years. In October, he faked his death again to avoid jail, staging the hoax in Culiacan.
He exploited a Sinaloa Cartel war for this. Elsewhere, Luis Grijalba was arrested in the UK. Posts about his wife’s travels gave him away.
Grijalba is wanted in the US and faces cocaine export charges for cocaine coming from Costa Rica. He survived two attempts on his life; seven others were shot in one attack where he hid behind a tree.