Pubdate: Mon, 10 Sep 2001
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: The Windsor Star 2001
Contact:  http://www.southam.com/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: David Adams, The London Times

Drug Lord Faces Trial

Accused Of Supplying Tons Of Cocaine To U.S.

After years of evading courts in the United States, Fabio Ochoa, one of 
Colombia's biggest cocaine barons, is due to face a judge in Miami today on 
charges that he supplied 30 tons of drugs a week in the late 1990s to 
American addicts.

The former Medellin cartel boss was extradited by Colombia on the weekend 
and flown under armed guard to Miami international airport in a 
military-style operation. After arriving before dawn, masked agents closed 
down main roads between Miami airport and the city's fortress-like justice 
building, where Ochoa, 45, was placed in a maximum security cell.

American and Colombian authorities are preparing themselves for violent 
reactions in Colombia, where extradition has been the cause of political 
violence in the past. The U.S. State Department has told Americans to be 
especially alert for possible terrorist attacks and kidnappings.

The extradition of Ochoa has increased tension in Colombia, where peace 
talks between the government and left-wing guerrillas appear to be on the 
verge of breaking down. Colombian anti-terrorist police said Sunday that 
they had foiled an assassination attempt against a popular right-wing 
presidential candidate, Alvaro Uribe.

The plot allegedly involved a suitcase-bomb packed with explosives in 
hollowed-out Bibles, which was to be detonated at one of Uribe's campaign 
offices in the capital, Bogota.
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