11 aressted in op against drug trafficking networks

BOGOTA: A simultaneous operation against drug trafficking networks in Colombia resulted in the capture of 11 people in the past hours, including two air traffic controllers, allegedly linked to the Sinaloa cartel.

The actions of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the Police along with the National Prosecutor’s Office allowed dismantling the mafia group that was dedicated to sending cocaine to the United States, Mexico, and Europe through charter flights.

Among the detainees are two air traffic controllers, Jaime Panchalo and Luis Armando Rivera, who, according to the accusations, changed and alternated shifts in the air control tower of the city of Cali, capital of the Valle del Cauca department, to coincide with the entry and departure of planes loaded with drugs.

An investigator told local newspaper El Tiempo that the two controllers were under the orders of Colombian- Mexican citizen Jaime Hernán Velásquez, alias el Viejo, who had already been arrested in 2003 for organising flights full of narcotics.

There are also detainees who established routes, managed the money and coordinated the departure and delivery of the drugs with the Sinaloa cartel.

One of the detainees is allegedly related to the Narcojet that on Jan 29 took off from El Dorado airport in Bogota with 500kg of cocaine to the English terminal of Farnborough, where the illegal cargo was found. — Bernama