Colombian court to rule on drug lord extraditions

BOGOTA, April 12 (Reuter) President Ernesto Samper's government has asked
Colombia's Supreme Court to rule on U.S. and Canadian requests for the
extradition of jailed leaders of the Cali drug cartel, authorities said on
Saturday.

Justice Minister Carlos Medellin said the government move opened the door to
possible extradition of brothers Gilberto and Miguel Rodriguez Orejuela,
billionaire drug traffickers jailed in 1995.

The Supreme Court's ruling, which is expected to be handed down within two
months, could also clear the way for the extradition of Helmer Herrera and
Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, two other top Cali cartel drug lords, officials
said.

Obviously, if the court's opinion is requested it's in order to apply it,''
Medellin told NTC television news network.

U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno requested the extradition of all four Cali
bosses last June. Canadian later asked for the extradition of Miguel
Rodriguez. The government has not yet responded to either of the requests.

Colombia's Congress passed a constitutional ban on extraditon in 1991 but
Samper, who is under intense U.S. pressure to demonstrate his government's
commitment to global antidrug efforts, announced earlier this week that he
intended to ask Congress to lift the ban.

U.S. counternarcotics experts led by Thomas Constantine, head of the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration, have said repeatedly that detention in a
secure facility in the United States is what Colombian traffickers fear the
most.