Five Montreal residents were arrested yesterday in connection with an international crime ring that allegedly laundered Colombian drug profits through Canada and the United States.

The arrests were part of a massive multi-agency sweep that saw 34 people charged in cities around the globe.

The two-year joint investigation, which also recovered US$20-million worth of illicit drug profits, involved members of the RCMP, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, London's National Crime Squad and police in Bogota.

"Those who choose to help hide the proceeds of illicit drug trafficking are as much a part of the problem as those who bring the drugs into this country, and they will be dealt with accordingly," said John Ashcroft, the U.S. Attorney-General, who announced the arrests yesterday alongside numerous officials, including Superintendent Michel Cabana, the head of national and border security for the RCMP in Quebec.

Authorities yesterday also unsealed a 48-page indictment that outlines how the organization -- using banks in North America and Europe -- laundered cash through the Colombian Black Market Peso Exchange, an underground operation that allows Colombians, mainly business people, to purchase U.S. currency without having to pay taxes and transaction fees.

[. . . .] According to prosecutors, the five Montreal men implicated in the scheme worked for Colombian drug lords, gathering the cash in Canada that was eventually given to the "second-tier" peso brokers.

[. . . .] Charged with conspiring to launder the proceeds of crime are Juan Carlos Ellis, 42; Hugo Palma, 43; Yip Oi Man, 48; Giovanni Di Rienzo, 43; and Gerardo Palma, 32. All are facing extradition to the United States to face the charges in New York.