Venezuelan authorities Wednesday arrested three Colombians, including a town councilor from the country’s eastern Norte de Santander department, during an army operation in which 872 kilos of marijuana were seized.
The operation unfolded at a checkpoint in just over the border from Colombia, in the Venezuelan state of Tachira.
Venezuela General Franklin Marquez said authorities will provide more details on the arrest in the next few hours.
This case follows one which occured last Friday, in which a truck carrying a load of 200 kilos of cocaine was detained in Venezuela, close to the border region with Colombia.
In 2009 authorities seized 60,164 kilos of various drugs along the 2,219 kilometer border between the neighboring Andean nations. Between January 1 and May 10, 2010, some 23,000 kilos of drugs were seized and 2,924 people arrested.
The border regioh has long been a source tension between the two countries and there are increasing concerns over massive human rights violations in the region.
Colombia and Venezuela have intermittently locked horns since Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took office more than a decade ago. Venezuela often complains about spillover from Colombia’s long guerrilla war, while Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s government says Chavez has not done enough to stop FARC guerrillas from taking refuge the Venezuelan border.
