Colombian authorities say that three of 21 drug trafficking suspects arrested on Monday are closely linked to “El Chapo,” one of Mexico’s most wanted drug lords.
The alleged drug traffickers – all wanted for extradition to the United States – were arrested following “Operation Frontiers”, a U.S.-Colombian counternarcotics operation.
The suspects are allegedly involved in the trafficking of Colombian cocaine to Central and North America in aircrafts. Police does not rule out that more arrests will follow as several employees of airlines and airports may be implicated in the trafficking bust.
Some of the arrested suspects are professional pilots.
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 who 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.