Cocaine for Venezuela Fuel Tankers Irks Colombia Tax Boss
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Criminal gangs are shipping the equivalent of 60 to 100 tanker trucks of subsidized Venezuelan fuel per day into Colombia, much of it paid for with cocaine, according to the Colombian government.
Between 10 percent and 15 percent of fuel used by Colombian drivers is smuggled from neighboring countries, Juan Ricardo Ortega, the head of the nation’s tax and customs agency DIAN, said in a Nov. 28 interview in Bogota. That’s led to a slump in fuel duties collected by the government and a warning to BHP Billiton Ltd., Anglo American Plc. and Glencore Xstrata Plc.’s Cerrejon coal complex over the source of fuel for its trucks. Cerrejon said it’s investigating the situation.