Former Chilean soccer star accused of drug smuggling
May 4th, 2010 - 2:41 pm ICT by IANSSantiago, May 4 (IANS/EFE) Retired Chilean soccer player Jorge “Coke” Contreras has been arrested on suspicion of being part of a drug trafficking network.
Contreras was arrested Sunday at the Santiago international airport when he returned from Lima after participating in an exhibition match along with other former members of Chile’s national team.
“I have no idea … I don’t know what you’re talking to me about,” he stammered, while a police officer read him his rights at the air terminal.
Contreras’s arrest was carried out before television cameras.
Police sources said his wife, Angela, was also arrested. Both are being investigated in connection with a cocaine distribution network that has been under scrutiny for two months.
Born in July 1960, Jorge Contreras played for several top Chilean clubs before joining Spain’s Union Deportiva Las Palmas, with which he played from 1983 to 1989. He was on the Chilean national team for 10 years and retired in 1999.
–IANS/EFE
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Tags: air terminal, cocaine distribution, coke, distribution network, drug smuggling, drug trafficking, former members, jorge contreras, match, police officer, police sources, s union, santiago, scrutiny, soccer player, soccer star, suspicion, sy, television cameras, union deportiva las palmas