Colombian authorities have arrested 52 people linked to international drug trafficking in a major operation backed by several countries including the United States, France and Spain, the Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
Of those arrested, 34 are subject to “valid extradition orders,” Defense Minister Iván Velásquez said.
After a two-year investigation, Colombian authorities arrested these suspects during a two-month operation and seized “four tons of cocaine worth $134 million,” he adds.
In a statement, the Defense Ministry pointed out that those arrested “were linked to Mexican international organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, the Jalisco Nueva Generación, the Zetas, as well as European organizations such as the Clan Devesa.”
The list of those arrested includes Slovak citizen Michal Pis, who is accused of distributing methamphetamines in his country, the Czech Republic and Germany. As well as Mexicans Carlos Omar Félix and Silvano Francisco Mariano, who are accused of having been involved in trafficking fentanyl in the American market.
Despite a 40-year war on drugs, Colombia remains the world’s top cocaine producer and the United States the top consumer.
In Colombia, drug traffickers, guerrillas and state agents have clashed in an armed conflict that has claimed more than nine million lives in fifty years.