Colombian authorities have arrested 52 people linked to international drug trafficking in a large operation supported by several countries, including the United States, France and Spain, the Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday.
Of those arrested, 34 are subject to “valid extradition orders”, Defense Minister Iván Velásquez said.
After two years of investigation, the Colombian authorities seized these suspects during an operation which lasted two months, and seized “four tons of cocaine worth 134 million dollars”, a-t- he adds.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defense indicated that those arrested “were linked to Mexican international organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Nueva Generación, the Zetas as well as European organizations such as Clan Devesa”.
A Slovak citizen, Michal Pis, accused of marketing methamphetamines in his country, the Czech Republic and Germany, is on the list of those arrested. As well as the Mexicans Carlos Omar Félix and Silvano Francisco Mariano, accused of participating in the trafficking of fentanyl to the American market.
Despite 40 years of fighting against drugs, Colombia remains the first producer of cocaine in the world and the United States, the first consumer country.
In Colombia, drug traffickers, guerrillas and state agents clash in an armed conflict that has claimed more than nine million victims in fifty years.