Venezuela arrests Colombian drugs lord

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan police this week arrested Colombian-born Carlos Ojeda, on wanted lists in Colombia and the United States as one of Latin America's biggest drug lords, the Venezuelan government said.

Ojeda, sought by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration, was arrested on Thursday by agents from the CICPC anti-drug squad in a commercial district in the east of Caracas, the interior and justice ministry said.

Up to seven international arrest warrants had been issued in the past few years for Ojeda, nicknamed "the Engineer" and suspected of coordinating much of the drug trafficking through Venezuela, the head of the country's anti-drug agency said.

There is no warrant out for him in Venezuela, however.

Venezuelan authorities were studying extradition requests for Ojeda, in his early fifties, who was also in Interpol's so-called "red file," Luis Correa, head of the CONACUID anti-drug agency told Reuters by telephone.