General Oscar Nina, a man who led Bolivia's national police force on the counter-narcotics team from 2010 until 2011, is being held on suspicion of connections to the drug trade as well as ties to illicit enrichment, according to the BBC. 

Formerly a top policeman, Nina had at one point been in charge of Bolivia’s counter-narcotics force.

Others members of his family–including his wife, as well as his daughter and son–were also arrested and have been charged with illicit enrichment. Prosecutor Ana Luisa Heredia has announced there was evidence that links the family to drug trafficking.

Less than four years ago, a U.S. court sentenced Rene Sanabria, who also worked on the anti-narcotics team, to 15 years in jail for drug trafficking. 

Although it is not clear if the two arrests are in any way related, Gen Nina was fired from his job as police chief just over two weeks after Sanabria was arrested.

When Sanabria was arrested, President Evo Morales said Bolivia had to stop the "cancer of corruption" from affecting the police.

About Nina’s arrest, Interior Minister Hugo Moldiz stated there had been "serious suspicions for years" the man had links with drug trafficking, offering Nina’s arrest had "sent out a signal that there won't be any complicity of any kind."

Nina, who had been in charge of the counter-narcotics force before taking up the post of police chief, denied any wrongdoing in the past.

After President Morales expelled the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration from Bolivia he was asked to reorganize the force.

Although the DEA had close links with Bolivia's counter-narcotics force and provided training along with material and strategic support, president Morales accused it of being "an instrument the U.S. uses to blackmail those countries who don't comply with imperialism and capitalism."

After Peru and Colombia, Bolivia is the world's third largest producer of cocaine.