POLICE in Latin America have seized cocaine and other drugs worth $5 billion in an operation lasting three weeks and spanning 15 countries.
They also seized more than 8,000 illicit firearms and carried out almost 15,000 arrests.
Police forces from Mexico in the north to Argentina in the south exchanged information in the operation, which was co-ordinated by Interpol.
Interpol said the arrests had disrupted the workings of several powerful gangs.
Dubbed Trigger IX, the international effort was mainly aimed at fighting the trafficking of illicit firearms.
Experts from the participating countries gathered at a centre of operations in Foz do Iguaçu, a city on Brazil’s border with Argentina and Paraguay, from 12 March to 2 April.
There, they exchanged intelligence on the workings of international crime gangs, such as First Capital Command (PCC), and Mara Salvatrucha with the aim of disrupting the flow of illicit firearms. (BBC)
