Colombia arrests 16 drug-money laundering suspects
Colombia's secret service said on Tuesday that it had arrested 16 people charged with laundering drug money totaling at least 4 million U.S. dollars.

The Department of Administrative Security (DAS) said the suspects belonged to a money-laundering network that had been operating in the cities of Bogota, Santa Marta, Timana, Armenia, Medellin, Girardot and Cajica.

The network received money from Colombian front companies, which processed the fictitious sales of overseas goods and services, as well as wrote small denominated checks to people with fake documents to help drug money flow into the normal banking system.

Colombia is the world's largest cocaine producer and has been undergoing a U.S.-funded anti-drug war called Plan Colombia, which has cost 4 billion U.S. dollars since 2000.