Captured in Colombia, alleged drug trafficker wanted for extradition by the U.S.

Bogotá, June 6 (EFE).- Colombian authorities captured a suspected member of a drug trafficking network linked to the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla, wanted for extradition by a court in the state of Georgia, in the United States, the Prosecutor's Office reported this Friday. The detainee, identified as Jorge Enrique Pedraza Reyes, alias 'Tony', is now under the custody of the Prosecutor's Office and faces an extradition order issued by a court in the Northern District of Georgia on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering. Agents from the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) of the Prosecutor's Office arrested him at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, after arriving on a flight from Mexico.

According to international requirements, alias 'Tony' coordinated the shipment of cocaine from an area controlled by the Edgar Amilkar Grimaldo Barón front of the ELN, in the Colombian department of Antioquia, to Mexico and other Central American countries.

This activity was supposedly carried out as a member of the criminal organization led by Cristian Eduardo García Jerez, alias 'Barbas', who was extradited to the United States last March.

Furthermore, he is accused of receiving significant sums of money from drug trafficking, which were then introduced into the Colombian financial system.

Colombia is the world's leading producer of cocaine and the country with the most hectares of coca cultivated, with a total of 253,000 in 2023, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Illegal armed groups such as the ELN and dissident factions of the former FARC are vying for territorial control of some areas of the country to dominate drug trafficking routes and other illegal businesses.

The Colombian government has intensified operations against drug trafficking in recent months, with the expectation that the United States will certify its efforts in the fight against drugs.