Sebastian Marset: Cocaine Kingpin and... Soccer Player?!

Sebastian Marset, 33, is an internationally wanted narco trafficker from Uruguay who has repeatedly slipped through the fingers of authorities. However, to most people, he is simply a mediocre, low-league Paraguayan soccer player. How did Marset establish his billion-dollar network, and what is his connection to soccer? 

The cartel was established in 2019 and immediately caught the attention of the authorities. The hunt for its elusive leader quickly turned into a transnational affair. On an anonymous tip, American and Paraguayan officials followed him to an airport where he was boarding a private jet. Although he tried to fool them with false passports, they used biometrics to uncover his true identity. They could have arrested him immediately, but their goal was to take down his whole cartel, not to capture just one person.

The investigators turned to the most reliable source of information they could find on Marset: Google. But their searches said Marset was a professional soccer player for a Paraguayan team called Deportivo Capiatá. Perplexed, authorities investigated further and realized that Marset was using one of the most time-honored methods of money laundering in South America: the purchase and resale of South American players for jacked-up prices. However, Marset is the only known drug lord to play on the teams he finances. Some believe that playing soccer is Marset’s attempt at an alias. However, somewhat bizarrely, those close to him state that he simply wanted to fulfill his childhood dreams of being a soccer player.

What, you ask, happened to Marset? He was detained in Dubai for possession of a fake passport. However, by exploiting legal loopholes, he returned to Uruguay with a clean record and a legitimate passport. Uruguayan officials ardently denied any accusations of corruption. The cartel is slowly crumbling; $27 million has been recovered, and 39 arrests have been made. But Marset remains at large and is probably out there somewhere, driving up to a stadium in his silver Lambo, ready to play soccer.