Colombia, US Smash Major Cocaine Ring

BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) – Colombian and U.S. authorities have smashed a major drug trafficking ring and captured 26 Colombians wanted for extradition for shipping 70 tonnes of cocaine to the United States.

The operation, named "Twin Oceans," led to the capture in Brazil of the group’s head, Pablo Rayo Montano, who was among the top 42 drug traffickers sought by Washington, Jorge Alirio Baron, the anti-narcotics chief for the Colombian National Police, said.

"It was an operation involving various countries," Baron told reporters. "It led to the dismantling of an important network of Colombian drug traffickers."

Colombia, the world’s top cocaine producer, has received $4 billion in U.S. aid and training to fight the trafficking, which has helped fund 40 years of violent conflict by left-wing rebels and rightist paramilitaries.

President Alvaro Uribe, who is likely to be reelected in an election next week, has led a crackdown on the FARC rebels and negotiated the demobilization of militia members in an effort to end the violence.

Uribe, a conservative lawyer whose father was killed by the FARC in the 1980s, has approved the extradition of more than 400 drug traffickers to the United States since he came to office four years ago.