U.S. names former Colombian official a trafficker

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department  said yesterday that it was designating a former Colombian  official as a specially designated narcotics trafficker and  forbidding U.S. citizens from any contact with him.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control cited Guillermo Leon  Valencia Cossio, former regional director for the Colombia  prosecutor’s office in Medellin, for his ties to the  organization of narcotics trafficker Daniel Rendon Herrera.

Valencia Cossio was arrested in August 2008 by Colombian  authorities and is on trial on charges of corruption and  conspiracy for assisting drug trafficking by paramilitary  groups.

Separately, OFAC identified two U.S.-based companies,  Running Brook LLC and La Hacienda that it said were owned or  controlled by a Peruvian named Fernando Melciades Zevallos  Gonzales, a narcotics trafficker.