Jan. 15 (UPI) -- The Venezuelan government said it dismantled the country's main drug trafficking logistics routes during 2025, particularly in the western state of Zulia.
Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace Diosdado Cabello said during a conference broadcast on state television channel VTV Wednesday that a series of operations succeeded in "pulverizing" corridors used by drug traffickers, especially those linking Colombia's Catatumbo region with Lake Maracaibo and the Caribbean, leading to the arrest of numerous suspects.
Those detained include former members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, police officers, judges and mayors, who authorities accuse of facilitating drug trafficking.
Cabello also said that since cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was suspended, more than 400 aircraft linked to drug trafficking have been neutralized. He added that the government focused its efforts on dismantling maritime infrastructure on Lake Maracaibo, which authorities consider key to moving large drug shipments.
According to a recent investigation by Colombian news outlet Noticias Caracol, a 2020 recording and a set of intelligence documents have again placed alleged ties between Colombian armed groups and sectors of the Venezuelan regime at the center of public debate.
