Courts in central Colombia took additional security measures Friday to prepare for the pending imprisonment of four Colombian drug lords captured earlier in the week, reported national media.
On Tuesday, Authorities captured four relatives of late Colombian drug lord Francisco Ivan Cifuentes, alias “Pacho Cifuentes,” alleging Cifuentes left his businesses and assets in the hands of family members prior to his death in 2007.
MORE: Search for Colombian brothers ‘linked’ to Mexican drug lord
Jaime Roll Cifuentes, Lucia Cifuentes, Oscar Eduardo Reyes and Edwin Alexander Portilla were apprehended in relation to charges of international drug smuggling, and are accused of working in conjunction with Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the primary movers of illegal narcotics destined for the United States.
The operation was carried out by the National Unit of Narcotics and Maritime Interdiction (UNAIM) and National Police forces in the cities of Medellin and Pereira, in the central state of Antioquia, and Pasto, in the southern state of Nariño.
Other Cifuentes associates, including two of his brothers, have previously bene extradited to the United Staes. It is not clear whether the United States will seek custody of the four individuals captured in the most recent operation, and judges Friday ordered that additional security measures be put in place to house the suspects in Colombian prison.
Specifically, the suspects stand accused of smuggling eight tons of cocaine into Ecuador in 2009, and were captured with 32 kilograms of cocaine paste.
Sources
- Caen cuatro narcos colombianos aliados con el cartel de Sinaloa (El Espectador)
- Cae en Colombia célula ligada al cártel de Sinaloa (El Universal)
- Sinaloa Cartel Expands Influence in Colombia (InSight Crime)