• Submitted by: admin
• International
• South America
• 02 / 07 / 2007

The Colombian official, speaking on condition he not be further identified, said Gomez was being flown on a Colombian police plane from Cuba and would be held at Bogota's heavily fortified chief prosecutor's office compound before being extradited to the United States.

An extradition order has already been signed, the official said.

Gomez Bustamante, an alleged leader of Colombia's Norte Valle cartel known by his alias "Rasguno," is wanted by the United States on drug, racketeering and money-laundering charges.

He has been held in Cuba since his 2004 arrest at a Havana airport on charges of carrying a false passport. U.S. drug officials said he fled Colombia after Washington offered rewards of US$5 million (€3.9 million) each for South American country's top drug traffickers.

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota had no immediate comment on the case.

Cuban press officials and officials at the Colombian Embassy in Havana also did not immediately respond to an request from The Associated Press for comment.

Source: International Herald Tribune Americas