A Colombian navy captain was arrested Tuesday in connection with aiding drug smugglers, the country's deputy attorney general, General Guillermo Mendoza, announced.
Jorge Ahumada, who captained a corvette class warship, is charged with handing over route information to Eduardo Jaramillo, alias The Condor, a businessman who supplied coastguard uniforms and worked as a drug smuggler's go-between.
The attorney general's investigations into the navy have also raised suspicions about rear admiral Gabriel Arango, who has enjoyed a glowing career in the navy. Arango has denied all charges.
Jaramillo is under guard at the San Nicolas Hotel in northern Colombia city Cartagena de las Indias, and is wanted by the United States, Mendoza added.
Ahumada and two civilian navy employees arrested at the same time will give statements in the attorney general's Cartagena bunker.
Drug traffickers smuggle cocaine out of the country to Central America and the Caribbean before sending it to the United States and Europe.
Separately, Colombian authorities are investigating at least eight army officials for alleged collaboration with the country's most violent drug cartel, Norte del Valle.
Colombia's military is a major recipient of U.S. aid designed to combat an insurgency now in its fifth decade and the world's largest cocaine industry.
Source: Xinhua
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