Drug Raids Net Apparent Fortune

British police said Thursday that they had seized $6 billion worth of suspected U.S. bonds after smashing a major international drug trafficking ring.

If the bonds are genuine, the seizure is huge: The wealth of the late Colombian drug baron Pablo Escobar was estimated by Fortune magazine in the late 1980s at $2 billion.

The National Crime Squad, which oversees British drug raids, said it had arrested nine people in London and the surrounding area in southeastern England as part of Operation Hobart, which began in July. All have been charged with drug- related offenses. In addition, two people have been arrested in Colombia and two in Ecuador as part of the same operation, which involved police from the three countries.

The squad also said it had seized 55,000 Ecstasy tablets, a pill press, a small amount of cocaine and marijuana, Ecstasy powder and about 33 pounds of amphetamine paste.

Crime squad spokeswoman Jackie Bennett said intelligence linked the suspects “to seizures elsewhere, including a seizure in Ecuador.” She said the squad had identified about $11 million in assets thought to be owned by the gang.

Most of the British arrests were made July 18 and Aug. 7, and all the suspects have been charged.

Prosecutors in Colombia, who confirmed that two people were arrested last Friday, said the biggest recent seizure of drug money in the nation was $35 million hidden in two apartments in Bogota, the capital.