NOTORIOUS COCAINE BOSS IS CAPTURED

He's Arrested After Colombian Manhunt

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Luiz Fernando da Costa, who rose from a slum-dwelling
drug peddler to become Brazil's most notorious cocaine kingpin, was
arrested in the Colombian jungle yesterday after a huge manhunt by army
troops, the armed forces reported.

Da Costa's arrest came in dramatic fashion, after a Cessna in which he was
traveling Thursday in southeastern 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
manhunt 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," said the Colombian defense minister, Luis Fernando Ramirez. "He is
the Pablo Escobar of Brazil."

Top 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 rebels have adamantly denied it, saying they merely tax
drug-trafficking operations.

The arrest was the culmination of a two-month anti-narcotics effort in
southeastern Colombia that army officials say highlighted connections
between da Costa's organization and the FARC.

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," Ramirez
said, referring to da Costa by his nickname.

"I think this is the beginning of the end of those cartels operating on the
frontier of Brazil," he said. "This will be a serious blow against the
rebels' finances."

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

The army's revelations are sure to be uncomfortable for President Andres
Pastrana, who has said in the past that he would break off peace
negotiations with the FARC if hard evidence shows the group is a
narco-trafficking organization.

Pastrana has come under heavy criticism from 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-size swath of territory to the FARC as a
safe haven for peace talks, but the talks have faltered and the FARC is
accused of planning attacks, hiding kidnap victims and cultivating coca
inside the zone.