COURT OKS SENDING DRUG SUSPECT TO U.S.

Colombia's high court Wednesday approved a U.S. request to extradite
Fabio Ochoa, one of the highest-ranking former members of the violent
Medellin cocaine cartel.

Ochoa, once a close associate of the late Medelln cocaine boss Pablo
Escobar, was one of 31 people arrested in Colombia in an October 1999
crackdown on alleged members of a major new cocaine smuggling operation.

If President Andres Pastrana signs the extradition papers, Ochoa would
be flown to the United States, where he faces a Florida indictment for
his alleged role in an international syndicate said to have been
shipping 30 tons of cocaine a month to the United States.