Reputed Colombian drug lord arrives

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A reputed leader of a Colombian drug cartel was flown to the United States yesterday to face charges of smuggling tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine to this country and laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds.

Archangel de Jesus Henao-Montoya, 49, also known as "El Mocho," is believed to be responsible for as much as half the illicit cocaine transported annually into the United States, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Assistant Secretary Michael J. Garcia.

Henao-Montoya is accused of being a leader of the so-called Norte de Valle cocaine cartel, a violent gang that has taken over most of the drug routes and markets of the once-powerful Cali cartel. In 2000, the Treasury Department designated Henao-Montoya as a drug kingpin, responsible for "huge volumes of drugs that have entered the United States."

"Pushing some 30 [percent] to 50 percent of the cocaine hitting American streets, the Norte de Valle cartel shows us that Colombian kingpins still dominate the drug trade," Mr. Garcia said. "The drug trade is not only a threat to our borders but to our economic security, as well.

"We'll keep hitting the traffickers where it hurts -- going after not just the drugs but the profits as well," he said.

Mr. Garcia said the suspected drug kingpin was brought from Panama to New York, accompanied by agents from ICE and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and later taken to a federal detention facility to await an arraignment scheduled for today.

Panamanian authorities, working with ICE and DEA agents, arrested Henao-Montoya on Tuesday near the southern city of Torti along Panama's border with Colombia, where he owns a lush estate. He was picked up on a provisional arrest warrant issued in New York.

The Panamanian authorities said Henao-Montoya had been hiding in the remote jungle areas along the Colombian border for several months, using the false name of Juan Manuel Cabal but keeping his Colombian citizenship. Also taken into custody were 25 suspected members of his drug gang.

U.S. law enforcement officials said Henao-Montoya had earlier offered to surrender to Colombian authorities in exchange for a promise that he would not be extradited to face charges in the United States.

Henao-Montoya was named in a July superseding indictment in New York with drug trafficking, money laundering and conspiracy.

Federal drug authorities have described the Henao-Montoya organization as the most powerful and brutal among the various independent drug trafficking groups that make up the Norte de Valle cartel. He took over much of the organization, they said, when his brother, Jose Orlando, surrendered to Colombian authorities to face illicit-enrichment and money-laundering charges in September 1997.

In November 1998, Jose Orlando was fatally shot in the maximum-security wing of Bogota's Modelo Prison.

According to the indictment, Henao-Montoya and other leaders of the Norte de Valle cartel employed members of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary organization, the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC), to protect its drug routes and drug laboratories. The AUC has been designated as a terrorist organization by the State Department.

Charges against Henao-Montoya came as the result of an investigation by the El Dorado Task Force, led by ICE and comprising various federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. It is the largest anti-money-laundering task force in the United States and since its 1992 inception has been responsible for more than 1,700 high-level money-laundering arrests and the seizure of more than $560 million in illicit drug profits.

Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine and a major supplier of heroin to the United States.