US designates suspected Colombian trafficker as drug kingpin

WASHINGTON – The U.S. has slapped sanctions on a Colombian man with ties to the South American country’s largest rebel group who allegedly controls a narcotics trafficking corridor in northern Colombia.

The Treasury Department designated Pedro Luis Zuleta Noscue as a drug kingpin. The move announced Thursday blocks him from accessing U.S. assets he may have. Four Colombian associates were also blacklisted.

Treasury says laboratories under Zuleta’s control produce cocaine and heroin for international narcotics markets. The labs also produce a highly-potent marijuana known as “creepy.”

It says Zuleta has financially supported narcotics trafficking activities led by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and continues to supply narcotics to criminal groups.

FARC signed a peace deal with Colombian government in 2016.