Colombian authorities have captured an alleged middleman between major Colombian drug tracking organization “Los Rastrojos” and leading European drug cartels, reported local media Monday.
Rafael Ivan Zapata Cuadros, alias ‘Rasgao’, is believed to have been the main link between extradited AUC leader Salvatore Mancuso and the Italian mafia, helping them create new cocaine-smuggling routes to Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Venezuela and Austria.
Colombian Gen. Luis Alberto Perez told reporters that police arrested Zapata Sunday in Puerto Berrio in the northwestern Antioquia department, about 250 kilometers north of Bogota.
Zapatas was wanted in 160 countries at the time of his arrest and has since been sentenced to 20 years in prison in Italy for drug-related crimes.
Last week authorities captured another alleged key member of Los Rastrojos, Juan Carlos Calle Serna, alias “Armando,” for money laundering in Ecaudor.