Colombia to combat money laundering in anti-drugs fight -police director
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Loading... - Antonio Oliviera
- 12 Sep 2022
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Colombia will focus its anti-drug fight on weakening traffickers' financial power and will continue forced eradication of coca crops, the country's new national police director said in his first interview with international media.
The South American country, considered the world's top producer of cocaine, comes under frequent pressure from prime ally the United States to reduce cocaine output.
New leftist President Gustavo Petro has promised changes to the anti-narcotics fight, saying the decades-long war on drugs has failed, and to seek peace with the country's armed groups.
"Production and trafficking of drugs will be fought with the higher-ups, those who benefit from money laundering. The fight is focused on them," said Major General Henry Armando Sanabria, who was appointed by Petro last month, late on Wednesday. "Money laundering as a way to attack drug trafficking is one of the government's priorities."
Smuggling and other avenues for integrating illicit funds into the legal financial system will be a top priority, added Sanabria, 51, as will seizures of cocaine exportsheaded for top consumers the United States and Europe.
The government will maintain a ban on the aerial fumigation of coca with the herbicide glyphosate, halted in 2015 on cancer concerns, Sanabria said, but will carry out forced manual eradication if growers refuse substitution plans.
"(Forced eradication) should continue to force precisely what the president wants: voluntary eradication," Sanabria, a 33-year police veteran, said. Read More...
