FUGITIVE BRAZILIAN DRUG LORD CAPTURED BY COLOMBIAN ARMY

MARANDUA AIR FORCE BASE, Colombia, April 22 - With hundreds of Colombian
troops in close pursuit, Luiz Fernando da Costa, Brazil's biggest cocaine
dealer, raced across 150 miles of jungle with help from Colombia's biggest
rebel group before being captured on Saturday, top army officials said today.

After Mr. da Costa's two months on the run, his dash to freedom ended not
far from this military outpost near the Venezuelan border. Today, military
officials hailed the capture, saying the Colombian Army had dismantled a
sophisticated operation in which Mr. da Costa funneled arms to the rebels
in exchange for a steady flow of cocaine that he then smuggled into Brazil
and beyond.

But officials fell short of calling the rebels, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a drug cartel. It underscored the delicate
relationship between military officials, who believe the rebels have been
granted too many concessions, and a president who has staked his office on
reaching a peaceful settlement with the rebels to end Colombia's
37-year-long conflict.

In Canada today at the Summit of the Americas, President Bush expressed
solidarity with Colombia's struggle against cocaine producers. He said
President Andres Pastrana is a strong leader. "It's going to be up to
President Pastrana to make the peace," Mr. Bush said. "Once he does, we'll
stand by his side."

Mr. da Costa, 33, who went from running drugs in a slum to become Brazil's
most notorious drug cartel chief, denied working with the rebels when he
was paraded before television cameras. "I don't have connections with the
FARC," he said. "The FARC did not protect me."

Military officials who have been tracking Mr. da Costa said his association
with the rebel group, which was apparently solidified when he moved to
Colombia in 1999 to escape Brazilian justice, resulted in the
transportation of thousands of sophisticated arms through the jungle to the
rebels. In return, Mr. da Costa was permitted to transport cocaine by air
and sea to the heart of Brazil, to be smuggled on to Europe and the United
States.

The rebel group has said it taxes coca cultivation and other aspects of the
coca trade but does not traffic in drugs. And some drug experts and
government officials here and elsewhere say they have not seen evidence
that the group is a drug-trafficking operation.

The army's effort to dismantle Mr. da Costa's operation and capture him
began on Feb. 12, when troops raided a series of coca-producing
laboratories and arrested several Brazilians. Mr. da Costa escaped, but on
Feb. 18 he was wounded in a shootout with troops at a farm the military
said belongs to Tomas Molina, a rebel leader.

Army officials said Mr. da Costa, with a handful of rebels, melded into the
jungle, traveling by small river boats and on foot. Eventually, the army
lost contact with him.

Then, on Thursday, a Cessna plane in which Mr. da Costa was traveling was
forced down by a Colombian OV- 10 air force plane. He fled on foot with
four other men. One of the men, Nicasio Angulo, identified as a rebel, was
caught on Friday. And then on Saturday, exhausted and wounded from three
gunshot wounds suffered in February, Mr. da Costa was arrested, along with
a Brazilian bodyguard. The military said the two who escaped were also rebels.