Arrests Fail to Stem Drug Trade, Colombian Says

Colombian drug traffickers continue to ship tons of cocaine to the world even though their leaders are in prison awaiting trial, the country’s justice minister said Tuesday.

“It’s really serious . . . ,” Carlos Medellin told the Caracol radio network. He said the illegal trade is as strong as ever despite last year’s successful army and police operation that put all but one of the leaders of the powerful Cali cartel behind bars.

The Cali cartel controlled most of the world’s cocaine trade before the crackdown.

Medellin said police are still discovering illegal drug crops, confiscating chemicals used to process them and seizing huge amounts of drugs.

He said weak laws are one reason that the trade persists. Colombia has been criticized for giving light prison sentences to powerful drug traffickers under a plea-bargaining program.

The United States decertified Colombia as an ally in the war on drugs March 1, saying drug corruption charges against the government had put into serious doubt its commitment to fight the trade.