Venezuela Increases Drug Arrests, Seizures of Colombian Cocaine

Venezuela has more than tripled arrests for drug trafficking and related crimes this year and is on track to seize more cocaine shipments from neighboring Colombia, according to the country's anti-drug agency. Arrests jumped 250 percent to 3,467 in the first six months of the year, said Nestor Reverol, president of Venezuela's National Anti-Drug Office. The government has also seized almost 27 metric tons of drugs, he said. The U.S. says Colombian cocaine is increasingly passing through Venezuela on its way to North America and Europe, and has accused President Hugo Chavez of failing to address the problem. Venezuela severed ties with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005, accusing its agents of spying. ``The U.S. is trying to discredit our government's drug- fighting efforts internationally,'' Tarek El Aissami, deputy interior minister, told reporters today in Caracas. William Brownfield, the U.S. ambassador in Bogota, said the amount of illegal drugs from Colombia that are passing through Venezuela has increased ``geometrically,'' in an interview with Colombian daily El Tiempo published June 28.