BRAZILIAN DRUG LORD ARRESTED

Luis Fernando da Costa, who rose from a slum-dwelling drug peddler to
become Brazil's most notorious cocaine lord, was arrested in the Colombian
jungle on Saturday after a massive manhunt by army troops, the armed forces
reported.

Da Costa's arrest came in dramatic fashion, after a Cessna in which he was
a travelling on Thursday in south-east Colombia was forced down by a
Colombian Air Force fighter. Da Costa fled on foot with four other men, and
the pilot of the plane later identified one of the men as da Costa. That
triggered a man-hunt involving 300 army troops who eventually cornered him
in Vichada Province near the Venezuelan border.

"I would say he is one of the most important narco-traffickers in the
world," Colombian Defence Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez said in an
interview. "He is the Pablo Escobar of Brazil."

Colombian army officials have insisted that da Costa, 33, had been selling
arms to leftist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or
FARC, in exchange for cocaine.

The arrest was the culmination of a two-month effort in south-east Colombia
that army officials say highlighted connections between da Costa's
organisation and the revolutionary group. In February, the army arrested
several Brazilians and confiscated documents that officials said showed how
the rebels received arms from da Costa in exchange for a Brazilian-bound
shipment of cocaine.

"This was successful because we were able to break apart the operation that
the FARC and Fernandinho have had in that part of the country," Mr Ramirez
said, referring to da Costa's nickname. "I think this is the beginning of
the end of those cartels operating on the frontier of Brazil," he said.

Mr Ramirez said that one of the four men, who was arrested on Friday, was a
member of the rebel group. Another, a Brazilian identified as a drug
trafficker, was arrested with da Costa. The other two were still at large.

The army's revelations are sure to be uncomfortable for President Andres
Pastrana, who has said he would break off peace negotiations with the group
if evidence showed it trafficked in narcotics.

Mr Pastrana has been heavily criticised by the military and much of
Colombian society for his handling of peace negotiations with the
37-year-old rebel group. In 1998, he ceded a Switzerland-sized swath of
territory to the group as a haven for peace talks, but the talks have
faltered and the group has been accused of planning attacks, hiding kidnap
victims and cultivating coca inside the zone.

Da Costa escaped from a Brazilian prison soon after being jailed in 1996,
and army officials here said that he had been in the Colombian jungle since
1999. But his last few weeks of freedom were difficult. He had been wounded
in a gunfight with soldiers and had to have two fingers amputated, Mr
Ramirez said.