Powerful Colombian Drug Lord Arrested And Flown To U.S.
Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter Mexico City, Mexico (AHN) - Mexico arrests one of Colombia's most powerful drug lords, a man responsible for nearly half the cocaine trafficked into the United States. Agents of Mexico's attorney general's office arrested Jaime Maya Duran and flew him directly to New York, where he is charged with drug smuggling and money laundering. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, says in a statement, Duran's arrest "shows the determination of U.S. and Mexican law enforcement authorities to pursue the most dangerous criminals, including those who thought they were untouchable." The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, accuses Duran and three lieutenants of taking over the notorious Norte Valle cartel in Colombia. The transfer of power took place after the ring's apparent leader, Luis Hernando Gomez Bustamante, was imprisoned in Cuba for trying to enter with a false passport in 2004. The ICE says Norte Valle is the country's largest and most feared cartel. It is suspected of smuggling more than 1.2 million pounds of cocaine to the U.S. between 1990 and 2004. The U.S. State Department accuses Duran of planning the logistics of drug shipments to the U.S. and Europe.
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