‘Emerald Czar’ Arrested in Raid
From Times Wire Reports
Armed investigators captured Colombia’s billionaire “emerald czar” Victor Carranza, wanted on charges of organizing a right-wing death squad, in a raid on his house in northern Bogota, the capital. Carranza, 63, controls two of Colombia’s four biggest emerald mines and has a major stake in another. The arrest came on the last day of a government-sponsored international conference aimed at polishing the image of Colombia’s emerald trade, tarnished by charges of links to paramilitary gangs and drug trafficking.
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