The anti-narcotics department of Colombia’s Prosecutor General’s Office will investigate whether $28 million in cash found in two cars in Bogota is connected to Mexican drug cartels.
Prosecutor General Guillermo Mendoza announced that authorities, acting on intelligence information, had raided the two cars. On Monday they seized $12 million in cash from one, and on Wednesday they seized $16 million from another.
Mendoza made the announcement in response to questions about the arrest of Mexican narco-trafficker Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias “La Barbie,” who was arrested in Mexico Monday.
Mexican authorities released a tape on which La Barbie says “I have investments in Colombia in my field of work,” which he then admits is “drugs.”
Following the capo’s arrest, Colombian authorities on Tuesday arrested eleven people accused of shipping drugs from the FARC to La Barbie’s Beltran Leyva cartel. Among those detained was Julio Cesar Piña Soberanis, alias “Julio,” a Mexican believed to be La Barbie’s representative in Colombia
“There is a lot of information on the relationship between the Mexican mafia and Colombian drug trafficking. We have to meticulously analyze each hypothesis,” Mendoza said.
Colombian authorities will also investigate Barbie’s claims that Jose Jorge Balderas Garza, alias “JJ,” who is believed to be responsible for the attack on Paraguyan soccer player Salvador Cabañas in January, is hiding out in Colombia. JJ is wanted by Interpol.
La Barbie was one of the most wanted men in the world, with a $2 million reward offered by the U.S. for information leading to his capture.