Pubdate: Tue, 11 Sep 2007
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2007 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: SIBYLLA BRODZINSKY, Special to The Miami Herald

COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD CAPTURED

BOGOTA -- One of the world's most-wanted drug lords was captured 
hiding under a pile of leaves Monday in a major strike against a 
powerful and violent cocaine cartel that had managed to infiltrate 
the top ranks of Colombia's security forces.

Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez, who goes by the name "Don Diego," was the 
leader of the Norte del Valle cartel, believed to be responsible for 
nearly two-thirds of the 500 tons of cocaine exported from Colombia 
every year and at least 1,500 murders. Among the FBI's top 10 most 
wanted criminals, he has been indicted in the United States, 
including in South Florida.

"This is the toughest blow to drug trafficking in 12 years," said 
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos in a televised press conference. 
In 1995, Colombian police seized Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela of the 
Cali cartel, then the world's largest.

Montoya Sanchez was escorted off a Colombian Air Force plane onto the 
tarmac at Bogota's military air base by army commandos who captured 
him on a ranch in rural southwestern Colombia. Sporting a scruffy 
beard and mustache, the heavy-set man looked considerably different 
from his grainy image on wanted posters.

Hunted Down

Army commander Gen. Mario Montoya (no relation) said the operation 
came after months of surveillance and intelligence that led troops to 
the ranch where Montoya Sanchez was hunted down and captured early 
Monday morning.

Gen. Montoya said Montoya Sanchez offered the soldiers who captured 
him $5 million to let him go.

Montoya Sanchez, also known as the "boss of bosses," faces 
indictments in three different federal courts in the United States, 
including two in South Florida. The charges include drug trafficking, 
money laundering and murder.

His brother, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, received a 22-year prison 
sentence in a Miami federal court in February 2006. Their cousin, 
Carlos Felipe Toro Sanchez, was also sentenced last year to about 20 
years in prison.

Diego Montoya Sanchez caught the attention of U.S. authorities in 
1999, when he was indicted in a South Florida court for drug 
trafficking and money laundering. Two more indictments were handed 
down in New York and Washington, D.C. A $5 million reward was offered 
for his capture.

When Colombian authorities stepped up the heat on Montoya Sanchez in 
about 2003, he circulated numerous accounts of his own death, 
including having been gunned down by rival factions of the cartel. 
Montoya Sanchez, along with several other Colombia drug lords, had 
reportedly been seeking to strike a deal with U.S. authorities to 
hand themselves over, but negotiations failed.

"This is a blow that speaks to the commitment of the armed forces in 
the fight against drug trafficking," said Vice President Francisco Santos.

The capture comes just a month after that commitment was cast in 
doubt by revelations that Montoya Sanchez had recruited or bribed 
high-ranking army officers to tip him off to any operations against 
his organization. The scandal cost two generals their jobs and led to 
the capture of 26 officers and noncommissioned officers.

"There is no doubt that the purge of the armed forces allowed this 
capture to happen," said Santos. "It is logical to conclude that they 
[the cashiered officers] used to pass on information."

With the moles out of the way, Santos said, the operation was 
planned. A special commando force was choppered into the area where 
his Montoya Sanchez's presence had been detected, penetrating his 
multiple rings of security, said Gen. Montoya.

The soldiers surrounded the farmhouse but did not find Montoya 
Sanchez among its occupants. Spotting a trail in the leaves outside 
the house, the soldiers followed it to a stream where they found 
Montoya Sanchez -- wearing only a T-shirt and underpants -- under a 
pile of leaves, the general said.

He was transferred to Bogota, and was placed in the custody of 
Colombia's prosecutor's office, which will process him for 
extradition to the United States. Santos said he expected Montoya 
Sanchez to be in a U.S. prison within two months.

"We hope this [the extradition request] will be processed as quickly 
as possible," he said.

The Norte del Valle cartel rose to prominence after the notorious 
Medellin and Cali cartels were dismantled in the 1990s. Montoya 
Sanchez started his career in the underworld in the 1990s overseeing 
the Cali cartel's cocaine labs and took advantage of the demise of 
his former bosses to take up the trade himself, controlling 
everything from coca fields and cocaine labs, to export corridors 
along the southwestern Pacific coast.

Powerful Network

He had a close relationship with paramilitary warlords who protected 
drug routes.

"We don't know who will take his [Montoya Sanchez's] place but rest 
assured that our intelligence has given us clues as to who it could 
be and we will continue hitting those organizations until we finish 
them off," Santos said.

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
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