Huge cocaine bust in Colombia

BBC:

Colombian police have seized a 10-tonne consignment of cocaine with a street value of $200m ($126m) which was reportedly about to be sent to Mexico.

The drugs were found in the Caribbean city of Barranquilla in two trucks where they were camouflaged in boxes filled with children's modelling clay.

The drugs were headed for the city of Veracruz in Mexico.

They allegedly belonged to one of Colombia's top traffickers, Daniel Barrera, nicknamed "The Madman".

The cocaine was seized after a six-month intelligence operation which tracked a drug route up to Barranquilla.

The drugs were moved in two containers travelling on trucks that were to be put on a ship and dispatched to Mexico.

...

The trafficker is known to move through the eastern plains of Colombia and into Venezuela where he often bases himself out of reach of the Colombian security forces and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA.

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela does not co-operate with the US anti-drug agencies.

...


The story seems to suggest that the Madman is now in a Venezuela sanctuary. That would not be too surprising considering that Venezuela is now a major transit point for dope going to Europe through West Africa. My speculation is that the Madman did not want to pay the Venezuelan tariff on goods that were headed for Mexico. It will be interesting to see the effect of this loss on the drug insurgency in Mexico.

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