WASHINGTON -- A man alleged to be a major Colombian cocaine kingpin and more than 50 drug traffickers have been arrested on U.S. drug and money-laundering charges, capping a five-year international effort to stem the flow of drugs to the United States through the Caribbean.
By Curt AndersonA federal grand jury indictment unsealed Wednesday in Miami charged Elias Cobos-Munoz and 20 associates with operating a trafficking organization out of Colombia's North Coast, which is responsible for 10 percent of the cocaine that reaches the United States each year.
A second indictment in Miami charged another 21 members of a Bahamas-based drug transportation ring that authorities say moved the drugs by boat, airplane and courier through the Caribbean to the United States and Canada.
Other arrests from more indictments have occurred in the last few days.
The indictments are part of a Drug Enforcement Administration effort that began in 1999 to identify and dismantle the major trafficking organizations in the Caribbean, said DEA chief Karen Tandy. More than 330 people have been arrested during the five-year investigation.
"We believe this operation will severely disrupt the entire Caribbean drug trade," Tandy said. "They will answer in the courts of the same land where they profited from poisoning America's children."
Attorney General John Ashcroft said the Bush administration hopes that its strategy of dismantling trafficking organizations from top to bottom will result in "a diminished supply" of cocaine in the United States. The operators indicted Wednesday were responsible for smuggling more than three tons of cocaine a month into North America.
"Our ultimate goal is to see the flow of drugs to this country dwindle," Ashcroft said.
The investigation involved authorities in Colombia, Panama, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the United States and Canada. Investigators seized more than 14,000 pounds of cocaine, 2,600 pounds of marijuana and 1 million doses of heroin, Ashcroft said.
The man alleged to be the drug cartel's leader, Cobos-Munoz, is among 41 of the most-wanted traffickers by the U.S. government. He was arrested Monday in Colombia and will be extradited to face trial in Miami along with most of the other defendants.
All of those arrested could face up to life in prison on multiple drug conspiracy and distribution charges and up to 20 years if convicted on money laundering counts.
