COLOMBIA TO EXTRADITE DRUG TRAFFICKER

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

The decision, pending its expected approval by President Andres Pastrana,
paves the way for the most prominent extradition of a Colombian drug
suspect since the 1980s.

Ochoa, once a close associate of the late Medellin 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.
Should Pastrana sign 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 via Mexico.

The Supreme Court also approved extradition for two other drug suspects
captured in the crackdown, known as Operation Millennium: Jairo Mesa Sanin
and Mario Sanchez Cristancho.

Pastrana has 15 days to approve or reject the extradition. The suspects are
then entitled to a final appeal to the government that must be decided
within 10 additional days.