Pubdate: Wed, 25 Apr 2001
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/364
Author: Katherine Baldwin

BRAZIL'S TOP DRUG LORD DEPORTED FROM COLOMBIA

BRASILIA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's most powerful drug lord arrived 
under heavy police guard in the country's capital on Wednesday, five 
days after his capture in Colombia for alleged arms and drug links 
with leftist rebels.

Luiz Fernando da Costa, 33, left Bogota in the middle of the night 
aboard a Brazilian Air Force plane for Brasilia, where he was bundled 
into a vehicle and taken to Federal Police headquarters in a four-car 
motorcade with a helicopter flying overhead.

Fernandinho Beira-Mar (Freddy Seashore), as he is known from his days 
as the kingpin of Rio de Janeiro's shantytown drug trade, had been on 
the run from Brazilian justice since 1996 when he escaped from prison.

Da Costa was serving nine-year and 21-year sentences for domestic 
cocaine trafficking and faces charges of trafficking and homicide. 
Federal Police are also trying to charge him with international drug 
and arms trafficking and money laundering.

Colombian authorities believed da Costa received one-third of the 
country's cocaine production from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of 
Colombia, or FARC, which made around $10 million a month to finance 
its guerrilla warfare. After his dramatic arrest -- involving 3,200 
soldiers and two months of tracking -- da Costa told the army he 
bought 200 tons of cocaine a year from the FARC and provided the 
group with arms and ammunition.

But Colombian officials feared they did not have enough security to 
keep da Costa inside prison or to keep him alive. One senior 
government official called him ``a hot potato''.

Da Costa's testimony also threatened to complicate peace talks to end 
the 37-year-old war between the Colombian army and Latin America's 
oldest and most powerful guerrilla force, which has left more than 
40,000 dead in the last 10 years.

The rebel group has admitted to ``taxing'' drug barons, but denies 
direct involvement in the cocaine trade. And the government has given 
the FARC the benefit of the doubt up to now.

Da Costa is expected to give a statement to Federal Police on 
Wednesday before two judges decide whether to send him to Rio de 
Janeiro or to Belo Horizonte, where he escaped from jail, said a 
police spokeswoman.

Doctors were brought in to examine Da Costa, who arrived wearing a 
bulletproof vest and had his arm in a sling after he was injured 
during his capture.

``The situation is quite ugly and he is in a lot of pain,'' said the 
police spokeswoman.
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe