Colombian drug lord
arrested in Brazil
Brazil's Federal Police
arrested on Tuesday a
top leader of Colombia's
biggest cocaine cartel
-- the Norte del Valle
Cartel, the police said
in a statement.
Juan Carlos Ramirez
Abadia, one of the drug
lords who allegedly
controlled the Cartel,
was captured in a raid
after dawn at a house in
a gated community on Sao
Paulo's outskirts.
The operation was aimed
at breaking up a ring
that laundered drug
profits in Brazil. But
only Abadia's arrest has
been reported up to the
present.
The Colombian drug lord
was accused of shipping
cocaine since the 1990s
and ordering the murders
of police and informants
in the United States and
Colombia.
U.S. officials said they
would seek extradition
of the alleged drug lord
with a nickname of "Chupeta,"
and wanted him on a
bounty of 5 million
dollars.
The U.S. Department of
State described him as
"extremely violent" and
estimated his fortune at
1.8 billion U.S.
dollars.
Police said the
operation received
support from law
enforcement agencies in
the United States,
Argentina, Spain and
Uruguay, which exchanged
information provided by
investigations on drug
trafficking and money
laundering in their
countries.
Brazilian police charged
the cartel of
transporting a large
amount of drugs up to
Brazil, from where it
was shipped to the U.S.
and Europe.
Ramirez Abadia joined
the Norte del Valle
Cartel in 2002 after
spending six years in
prison. When he
surrendered to the
Colombian Police in
1996, he confessed to
having shipped 23 tons
of cocaine to the United
States. |
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