Colombian authorities have arrested 52 people believed to be linked to an international drug ring in a massive operation backed by law enforcement from several other countries, including the United States, France, Spain and Greece, the Defense Department said Wednesday. Bogota.

Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velázquez said 34 suspects were among those arrested and “pending extradition requests pending.”

After a two-year preliminary investigation, Colombian authorities arrested dozens of suspects in the two-month-long operation. According to Mr. Velazquez, the same operation seized “four tons of cocaine worth $134 million.”

Sinaloa Cartel, New Generation, Setas

A press release issued by the Colombian Ministry of Defense emphasizes that those arrested “were associated with Mexican international criminal organizations such as the Sinaloa cartel, the New Generation of Jalisco, the Setas, as well as with gangs operating in Europe, such as the Devesha Clan” .

Among those arrested is a citizen of Slovakia, Michal Pis, who is accused of trafficking in methamphetamines in his country, the Czech Republic and Germany. Similarly, Mexican citizens Carlos Omar Felix and Silvano Francisco Mariano, who are accused of being involved in the trafficking of fentanyl destined for the US market.

Despite the fact that the so-called war on drugs has been going on for 40 years, Colombia remains the country with the largest production of cocaine in the world, and the United States remains the country with the largest consumption of this substance.

Drug trafficking is the main source of funding for armed groups involved in Colombia’s sixty-year-old civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Source: RES-IPE