Fri, Mar 31, 2023 page7
Colombia arrests 52 linked to global drug trafficking
IMPOUNDED: After a two-year investigation, the operation seized US$134 million of cocaine and disrupted international drug cartels
AFP, BOGOTA

Colombian authorities have arrested 52 people linked to international drug trafficking in a major operation supported by the US, France and Spain, the Colombian Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday.

Of those arrested, 34 were under “current extradition orders,” Colombian Minister of National Defense Ivan Velasquez said.

After two years of investigation, Colombian authorities uncovered the suspects during an operation which lasted two months, and resulted in the seizure of “4 tonnes of cocaine worth US$134 million,” he said.


A counternarcotics police officer runs through a coca field during a cocaine raid in La Hormiga, Colombia, on April 9 last year.
Photo: AP

The suspects “were linked to international Mexican organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation, Los Zetas as well as European organizations such as Clan Devesa,” the ministry said in a statement.

Those arrested included Mexicans Carlos Omar Felix and Silvano Francisco Mariano from the Sinaloa cartel, accused of trafficking fentanyl to the US.

A Slovak citizen, Michal Pis, who is accused of marketing methamphetamines in his country, the Czech Republic and Germany, was also among those detained, along with a British man who coordinated shipping drugs to Belgium and a Chilean money launderer.

Despite 40 years of fighting against drugs, Colombia remains the world’s leading producer of cocaine, with the US its main market.