Venezuelan Drug Suspect, Sought by U.S., Seized in Aruba
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CARACAS, Venezuela — Police in Aruba have arrested a Venezuelan airline pilot sought by Washington for suspected involvement in a drug ring that has smuggled at least 11 tons of cocaine into the United States, police here said Friday.
A police spokesman said that Gerardo Lares Matheus, 37, was suspected of involvement in a Bogota-based ring that laundered drug money between the United States, Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.
“He is held in Aruba, and the United States is going to ask for his extradition because it accuses him of having brought more than 10,000 kilos (22,000 pounds) of cocaine into that country,” the spokesman said.
Aruba police confiscated a light plane belonging to Lares Matheus, a commercial airline pilot, that they suspect he used to smuggle drugs between Venezuela and the Netherlands Antilles.
The spokesman added that police would hold Lares Matheus pending a response to the U.S. request for his extradition.
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