US Treasury sanctions suspected drug traffickers

The Treasury Department is levying financial sanctions against a Colombian suspected of leading an international drug trafficking and money laundering organization that exported nearly 100 tons of cocaine a year from Colombia.

The department said Wednesday that Fernain Rodriguez Vasquez allegedly managed the trafficking operations of Lebanese-Colombian national Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly.

Vasquez was sanctioned under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

Treasury also designated seven others and five entities in Colombia suspected of assisting Vasquez, often in collaboration with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and Mexico's Los Zetas and Sinaloa drug cartels.

The action seizes their property and interests in property in the United States and prohibits U.S. citizens for engaging in transactions with them.