COLOMBIAN DRUG LORD CAPTURED

BOGOTA -- One of the world's most-wanted drug lords was captured
hiding under a pile of leaves Monday in a major strike against a
powerful and violent cocaine cartel that had managed to infiltrate
the top ranks of Colombia's security forces.

Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez, who goes by the name "Don Diego," was the
leader of the Norte del Valle cartel, believed to be responsible for
nearly two-thirds of the 500 tons of cocaine exported from Colombia
every year and at least 1,500 murders. Among the FBI's top 10 most
wanted criminals, he has been indicted in the United States,
including in South Florida.

"This is the toughest blow to drug trafficking in 12 years," said
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos in a televised press conference.
In 1995, Colombian police seized Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela of the
Cali cartel, then the world's largest.

Montoya Sanchez was escorted off a Colombian Air Force plane onto the
tarmac at Bogota's military air base by army commandos who captured
him on a ranch in rural southwestern Colombia. Sporting a scruffy
beard and mustache, the heavy-set man looked considerably different
from his grainy image on wanted posters.

Hunted Down

Army commander Gen. Mario Montoya (no relation) said the operation
came after months of surveillance and intelligence that led troops to
the ranch where Montoya Sanchez was hunted down and captured early
Monday morning.

Gen. Montoya said Montoya Sanchez offered the soldiers who captured
him $5 million to let him go.

Montoya Sanchez, also known as the "boss of bosses," faces
indictments in three different federal courts in the United States,
including two in South Florida. The charges include drug trafficking,
money laundering and murder.

His brother, Juan Carlos Montoya Sanchez, received a 22-year prison
sentence in a Miami federal court in February 2006. Their cousin,
Carlos Felipe Toro Sanchez, was also sentenced last year to about 20
years in prison.

Diego Montoya Sanchez caught the attention of U.S. authorities in
1999, when he was indicted in a South Florida court for drug
trafficking and money laundering. Two more indictments were handed
down in New York and Washington, D.C. A $5 million reward was offered
for his capture.

When Colombian authorities stepped up the heat on Montoya Sanchez in
about 2003, he circulated numerous accounts of his own death,
including having been gunned down by rival factions of the cartel.
Montoya Sanchez, along with several other Colombia drug lords, had
reportedly been seeking to strike a deal with U.S. authorities to
hand themselves over, but negotiations failed.

"This is a blow that speaks to the commitment of the armed forces in
the fight against drug trafficking," said Vice President Francisco Santos.

The capture comes just a month after that commitment was cast in
doubt by revelations that Montoya Sanchez had recruited or bribed
high-ranking army officers to tip him off to any operations against
his organization. The scandal cost two generals their jobs and led to
the capture of 26 officers and noncommissioned officers.

"There is no doubt that the purge of the armed forces allowed this
capture to happen," said Santos. "It is logical to conclude that they
[the cashiered officers] used to pass on information."

With the moles out of the way, Santos said, the operation was
planned. A special commando force was choppered into the area where
his Montoya Sanchez's presence had been detected, penetrating his
multiple rings of security, said Gen. Montoya.

The soldiers surrounded the farmhouse but did not find Montoya
Sanchez among its occupants. Spotting a trail in the leaves outside
the house, the soldiers followed it to a stream where they found
Montoya Sanchez -- wearing only a T-shirt and underpants -- under a
pile of leaves, the general said.

He was transferred to Bogota, and was placed in the custody of
Colombia's prosecutor's office, which will process him for
extradition to the United States. Santos said he expected Montoya
Sanchez to be in a U.S. prison within two months.

"We hope this [the extradition request] will be processed as quickly
as possible," he said.

The Norte del Valle cartel rose to prominence after the notorious
Medellin and Cali cartels were dismantled in the 1990s. Montoya
Sanchez started his career in the underworld in the 1990s overseeing
the Cali cartel's cocaine labs and took advantage of the demise of
his former bosses to take up the trade himself, controlling
everything from coca fields and cocaine labs, to export corridors
along the southwestern Pacific coast.

Powerful Network

He had a close relationship with paramilitary warlords who protected
drug routes.

"We don't know who will take his [Montoya Sanchez's] place but rest
assured that our intelligence has given us clues as to who it could
be and we will continue hitting those organizations until we finish
them off," Santos said.

Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.