Colombian authorities on Tuesday began the extradition process for the 21 suspected drug traffickers arrested in “Operation Frontiers,” some of whom are closely linked to “El Chapo,” one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords.
National Police Commissioner Oscar Naranjo told Caracol Radio that the authorities began processing the extraditions based on requests from the Dallas Prosecutor General in the U.S.
Naranjo said the drug traffickers are part of a network that runs flights between Colombia and Honduras, and that they have links to powerful Mexican drug cartels.
Operation Frontiers, which was reportedly carried out simultaneously in ten countries, led to the arrest of the 21 suspected traffickers, some of them pilots, in Colombia on Monday.
Those arrested are believed to belong to trafficking organizations “Loco Barrera,” “Los Mellizos” and “Los Rastrojos.”
According to the police, the mass arrest is a hard blow for the Mexican cartels which are responsible for the smuggling of the drugs into the U.S., and are suspected of the extreme violence that is taking place in large Mexican cities.
Operation Frontiers is the biggest anti-drug trafficking operation carried out jointly between Colombia and the U.S. since “Operation Milenio” in 1999 when 31 of Colombia’s most important capos were arrested.
Naranjo said police will release more details about the operation on Friday.