Pubdate: Mon, 23 Apr 2001
Source: Age, The (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd
Contact:  http://www.theage.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5
Author: Juan Forero, New York Times
Note: Originally published in the New York Times (US)

BRAZILIAN DRUG LORD ARRESTED

Luis Fernando da Costa, who rose from a slum-dwelling drug peddler to 
become Brazil's most notorious cocaine lord, was arrested in the Colombian 
jungle on Saturday after a massive manhunt by army troops, the armed forces 
reported.

Da Costa's arrest came in dramatic fashion, after a Cessna in which he was 
a travelling on Thursday in south-east Colombia was forced down by a 
Colombian Air Force fighter. Da Costa fled on foot with four other men, and 
the pilot of the plane later identified one of the men as da Costa. That 
triggered a man-hunt involving 300 army troops who eventually cornered him 
in Vichada Province near the Venezuelan border.

"I would say he is one of the most important narco-traffickers in the 
world," Colombian Defence Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said in an 
interview. "He is the Pablo Escobar of Brazil."

Colombian army officials have insisted that da Costa, 33, had been selling 
arms to leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or 
FARC, in exchange for cocaine.

The arrest was the culmination of a two-month effort in south-east Colombia 
that army officials say highlighted connections between da Costa's 
organisation and the revolutionary group. In February, the army arrested 
several Brazilians and confiscated documents that officials said showed how 
the rebels received arms from da Costa in exchange for a Brazilian-bound 
shipment of cocaine.

"This was successful because we were able to break apart the operation that 
the FARC and Fernandinho have had in that part of the country," Mr Ramirez 
said, referring to da Costa's nickname. "I think this is the beginning of 
the end of those cartels operating on the frontier of Brazil," he said.

Mr Ramirez said that one of the four men, who was arrested on Friday, was a 
member of the rebel group. Another, a Brazilian identified as a drug 
trafficker, was arrested with da Costa. The other two were still at large.

The army's revelations are sure to be uncomfortable for President Andres 
Pastrana, who has said he would break off peace negotiations with the group 
if evidence showed it trafficked in narcotics.

Mr Pastrana has been heavily criticised by the military and much of 
Colombian society for his handling of peace negotiations with the 
37-year-old rebel group. In 1998, he ceded a Switzerland-sized swath of 
territory to the group as a haven for peace talks, but the talks have 
faltered and the group has been accused of planning attacks, hiding kidnap 
victims and cultivating coca inside the zone.

Da Costa escaped from a Brazilian prison soon after being jailed in 1996, 
and army officials here said that he had been in the Colombian jungle since 
1999. But his last few weeks of freedom were difficult. He had been wounded 
in a gunfight with soldiers and had to have two fingers amputated, Mr 
Ramirez said.
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