‘Top Panama drug money launderer’ held in Colombia

Authorities in Colombia have arrested a prominent Panama businessman sought by the US and dismantled an empire of businesses that the US says were part of a top worldwide money-laundering organisation for drug traffickers.

The co-ordinated operation was announced as the US Treasury Department froze US assets owned by 68 companies in this Central American nation and in Colombia under a drug kingpin designation.

As part of the effort, Colombian police arrested Nidal Waked at an airport in Colombia’s capital, Bogota.