Cartagena authorities have cancelled the business license of seven companies and are investigating 22 others for trafficking illegal goods, newspaper El Espectador reported Tuesday.
In an anti-smuggling operation two containers with nearly 49,000 items including household goods and clothing, among others types of merchandise with an estimated value of $252,000, were intercepted by police officials pertaining to the Prosecutor General’s Office and customs officers of Cartagena in cooperation with Colombia’s national tax office DIAN.
The seizure is the result of intelligence gathering and monitoring of routes through Asia, Panama and Colombia, one of the preferred passages of the criminal gangs who combine bootlegging goods with other illegal activities such as money laundering and counterfeiting.
The police say that to date since January 1, they have seized $67,000 in contraband merchandise and have detained 6 people in relation to this crime.
