Colombia Arrests Former Marxist Rebel Leader on US Drug Trafficking Charge

A member of the Colombian antinarcotics police, stands guard beside a one-ton shipment of cocaine seized to the country's biggest drug gang, the Gulf Clan in a container with destination to Europe in Buenaventura, Colombia's main port on the Pacific Ocean, on Aug. 10, 2017. RAUL ARBOLEDA/AFP/Getty Images

BOGOTA–Colombia on Monday arrested a soon-to-be congressman from the Marxist FARC party –also known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – on charges of drug trafficking, the government said, sparking outrage from the former rebel group that demobilized last year.

Seusis Hernandez, who was due to take office in July, conspired to export 10 tonnes of cocaine worth $320 million in street value to the United States, Attorney General Nestor Humberto Martinez said in a televised address with President Juan Manuel Santos.