Guatemala’s Public Prosecutor’s Office said on 24 March that 12 people had been captured for links to a network selling pastry products made with drugs for national distribution through apparently legal companies.[1] The operation called Narco Repostería carried out 15 searches in Guatemala and Sacatepéquez and captured 12 people for money laundering and unlawful drug commerce, trafficking and storage.[2] On 22 March the National Civil Police reported the detention of María, identified as the leader of the Fairy Dust or Fairy Kitchen structure.[1] Prosecutors said the network had co-opted National Civil Police agents, who were captured over these acts.[1]

Investigators said the network kept a farm in Santa María de Jesús, Sacatepéquez, where it grew the raw material for the business.[1] At the farm officers found a greenhouse with marijuana seeds and marijuana in growth, harvestable and processed stages for sale.[1] Officers seized Q1,295,370 in cash together with assorted drugs, drug-laced pastry products, a money-counting machine, vehicles, mobile devices and laptop computers.[1] Prosecutors said officers eradicated 1,882 marijuana plants and seized 30 kilos of marijuana and a shotgun during the procedures.[1] The official evidence inventory for the same operation instead lists 1,466 marijuana plants.[2]

Prosecutors said the network sold cupcakes, cookies, sweets and gummies with illicit substances and used the national financial system to give the proceeds an appearance of legality.[1] The organization made and distributed substances hidden in cupcakes, brownies, cookies, sweets and gummies that were promoted through various channels and delivered by courier services in the city and other departments.[2] The investigation grew out of earlier detentions in El Salvador that led Guatemalan prosecutors and police to identify a network selling pastry products prepared with different types of drugs.[1]