A police raid nabbed 238 suspected drug dealers and dismantled 15 criminal gangs in 10 of Colombia’s 32 departments, authorities said Friday.
Those captured “are not only linked to drug trafficking, but also the killing of 63 people,” police chief General Jorge Hernando Nieto told reporters.
“Operation Temis II” was carried out over several hours in the departments of Antioquia, Boyaca, Caldas, Casanare, Cundinamarca, Huila, Narino, Santander, Tolima and Valle del Cauca, AFP reports.
According to the authorities, who infiltrated the gangs with their agents, the suspects used minors, homeless people, cab drivers and street vendors to sell drugs.
“Some of the dismantled organisations were formed by family clans who have devoted themselves to this illicit activity for generations,” authorities said.
During the counternarcotics operation, authorities also found the suspects committing other crimes, such as murders, threats, extortion, robbery, illegal possession of firearms, criminal conspiracy and using minors to commit crimes.
The world’s largest grower of coca, the plant from which cocaine is made, Colombia is also the largest producer of the drug, with an estimated 646 tonnes last year alone, according to the United Nations.
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