PERUVIAN SPY CHIEF SEIZED IN VENEZUELA

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos, who allegedly
amassed a fortune from drug trafficking, arms deals and money laundering
while working as the right-hand-man of Peru's leader Alberto Fujimori, was
captured in Caracas, officials said Sunday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had been accused by some Peruvian
officials of harboring the fugitive, reported the capture at a summit of
Andean leaders in Valencia, Venezuela. He said the former spy chief was
caught inside a Caracas safehouse late Saturday.

Chavez said extradition proceedings were under way and that Montesinos
would be immediately returned to Peru, where he could face life in prison.

The surprise detention of the 55-year-old fugitive considered South
America's most wanted criminal brought an end to eight months of
speculation about Montesinos' whereabouts in a case that could have come
from the pages of a spy novel.

The case had so disgusted and fascinated Peruvians that the fugitive spy
chief's face often dominated the front pages of the country's newspapers.

For 10 years, the man nicknamed "the Doc" was considered the most important
powerbroker in Peru, in some ways, more powerful than President Fujimori.

Montesinos' $15,000 bribe of a congressman was videotaped and released in
September. It plunged the country into chaos and ended with Montesinos
fleeing the nation, and Fujimori departing soon after.

With his arrest, Peruvian officials, who launched the manhunt in November,
have scored a major public relations victory. But in some ways, Montesinos'
capture raises more questions than it answers.

Unknown is where the former spy chief hid for the past eight months and
whether Venezuelan officials had anything to do with his disappearance
after he was spotted in Caracas several months ago.

Pressure now on Japan

Montesinos' arrival in Peru also will intensify the push to extradite
Fujimori, who left the country in November and has taken refuge in Japan.

"I am sure there are some really nervous people in Peru today," said Juan
Abugattas, a professor and director of research at the University of Lima
who has studied the Montesinos case.

"There are many who are wondering what Montesinos will say when he arrives.
Will he sing like a bird and tell on many Peruvian officials? I imagine
former President Fujimori is very nervous too," he added.

Prosecutors hope Montesinos will provide enough incriminating information
against Fujimori that Japanese authorities will be pressured to return the
disgraced former chief of state, who led Peru for a decade.

Japan contends it will not extradite Fujimori under any circumstances
because he has Japanese citizenship and no extradition treaty exists with Peru.

Peruvian prosecutors have arrested or detained Supreme Court justices,
generals, congressmen, media barons and entrepreneurs who were caught in
Montesinos' alleged web of crime.

Fujimori's government reported Montesinos earned $370 a month, but
prosecutors said he had hundreds of millions tucked in offshore accounts, a
fleet of cars and a beach house, complete with a secret hatch under a pink
bathtub leading to an escape tunnel.

Most alarmingly, prosecutors say Montesinos used drug money to fund a death
squad called Grupo Colina, which was blamed for two high-profile massacres.

More than 100 separate court proceedings are being prepared, and Jose Ugaz,
the special prosecutor assigned to the investigation, said Sunday that the
court cases could last three years.

Double-dealing with U.S.

Montesinos' legacy also has cast a spotlight on his longtime connection
with the Central Intelligence Agency and his former support from U.S.
officials. During his years as intelligence chief, Montesinos was a strong
U.S. ally in the Andean drug war, but prosecutors now describe him as half
intelligence chief, half crime boss.

Peruvian officials initially criticized the United States for not aiding in
the manhunt. But officials in Lima said Sunday that the break in the case
came after the FBI, which has been working with Peruvian officials for
months, found the fugitive official in Venezuela.

Initial leads indicating that Montesinos was in Venezuela came last fall,
when the county's news media reported a man resembling Montesinos had
undergone plastic surgery at a Caracas clinic.

Montesinos' aides who accompanied him to Venezuela later confirmed the
story. They also said their boss escaped Peru by sailing a coastal route,
stopping in the Galapagos Islands, Costa Rica and then flying to Aruba,
about 20 miles off the Venezuelan coast.

Chavez, speaking to reporters during the Andean summit Sunday, basked in
the news and insisted that his government does not harbor criminals.

Questions will persist

But the question of who helped Montesinos in Venezuela will persist.

"It is not clear whether Chavez knew about it," professor Abugattas said,
"but it is clear that there was lots of pressure and that it would have
taken a high political toll on Chavez if he did not deliver Montesinos."

Chavez, a controversial populist president who has been a lightning rod for
criticism in the region, told President-elect Alejandro Toledo on a visit
to Peru four days ago that he would deliver Montesinos if he was in Venezuela.

Many Peruvians were watching television Sunday night, hoping to see the
once-feared man who had closets filled with Italian suits and wore
diamond-encrusted watches.

"If he comes back, a fair amount of people would like to kill him," said
Joanna Drzewieniecki, a Lima political analyst. "Even now, officials will
have to take care because many people still can't bear the thought of him
being alive."