Bolivia Reports Arrest of Cocaine Kingpin
LA PAZ, Bolivia — The Bolivian government Wednesday announced the arrest of a man reputed to be one of that nation’s two major cocaine traffickers.
Juan Carlos Lisboa Melgar, 35, was arrested Tuesday during a raid on a home in Santa Cruz, a drug-trafficking center 335 miles southeast of La Paz, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gonzalo Torrico said.
He said Lisboa, who did not resist arrest, owns the biggest cocaine-processing laboratory ever uncovered in Bolivia. He said it can produce up to 8,800 pounds a week.
There was no immediate word on charges. Police had been hunting Lisboa for a year, and the Supreme Court had begun a trial in absentia.
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