Colombian special prosecutors on Wednesday announced the capture of nine security force officers and six public officials accused of collaboration with a drug ring based in Cucuta, which managed smuggling routes to Europe and the United States.
According to El Espectador newspaper, those arrested from the security forces included five agents of the scandal-ridden DAS, three police officers, and one soldier.
Mary Luz Mendez, director of the prosecutor’s office’s Technical Investigation Corps (CTI), said that the investigation could in the coming hours result in more arrests, bringing the total to 23, the newspaper reported.
The research leading to the arrests was supported by a prosecutor in Cartagena and lasted eight months, with intelligence gathered in the departments of Santander and Antioquia.
The five DAS agents were picked up in Santa Marta, while the three police offers were arrested in Cartagena. The soldier was detained in Antioquia, and the six civilians were detained in Bucaramanga and Magangué.
