U.S. imposes new sanctions on Colombian drug network

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury said on Thursday it imposed new sanctions against the network of an alleged Colombian drug trafficker and money launderer previously linked to the North Valle cocaine cartel.

The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control added Ramon Quintero Sancemente, along with 19 other individuals and 16 entities in his organization, to its list of specially designated narcotics traffickers, a move that bans U.S. persons from doing business with them and seeks to freeze any assets they may have under U.S. jurisdiction.

The Treasury previously blacklisted Quintero Sanclemente in November 2005 for providing support to North Valle drug cartel leader Wilber Varela. But it said the new sanctions reflect Quintero Sanclemente's increased role in drug trafficking activities following Varela's death in 2008.

"Ramon Quintero Sanclemente was a top-level lieutenant in the North Valle drug cartel who now heads his own significant drug trafficking organization in Colombia," OFAC director Adam Szubin said in a statement. "Today's designation targets not only Quintero Sanclemente's numerous illicit assets and a key money laundering network but also his right hand man Mario German Satizabal Rengifo."

Satizabal Rengifo, also known as "Pelo de Cobre," was indicted on U.S. drug trafficking and money laundering charges in Florida in 2008.

Treasury said Quintero Sanclemente, who also faces U.S. drug trafficking and money laundering indictments issued in 1999 and 2008, is closely aligned with Cali-based drug lord Luis Enrique Calle Serna, who was put on the Treasury blacklist in 2005.

(Reporting by David Lawder, editing by Vicki Allen)