FEDS TELL WHY THEY DROPPED CHARGES AGAINST DRUG INFORMANT

For the first time, the federal government on Monday admitted it dropped
charges against a Miami Beach fashion photographer turned major drug
informant because agents gave him such wide latitude to persuade Colombian
cocaine smugglers to cooperate with authorities.

Baruch Vega, 56, had been charged with cooking up "phony cooperation deals"
that promised lenient prison sentences for indicted traffickers in exchange
for millions of dollars.

Miami federal prosecutor Edward Ryan told a magistrate that Vega had a
"colorable" -- or plausible -- defense because Drug Enforcement
Administration, FBI and other agents allowed him so much room to operate as
an informant.

Vega and his associate, Roman Suarez Lopez, had faced
obstruction-of-justice and money-laundering charges for allegedly accepting
between $6 million and $100 million from top smugglers in negotiating their
surrender to federal authorities.

The government quietly dropped the charges in November 2001.

The March 2000 complaint against the pair caused a big stir in the drug
trade between Colombia and South Florida -- mostly because Vega talked so
publicly about the cooperation deals.

Ryan's disclosure came during a hearing Monday in which a reputed Colombian
drug lord, who is facing a May conspiracy trial, accused Vega of trying to
extort him for $30 million with the promise of avoiding indictment.

UNUSUAL TURN

The hearing took an unusual turn when U.S. Magistrate William Turnoff
ordered the federal prosecutor who initially charged former Medellin cartel
leader Fabio Ochoa-Vasquez to testify today so the judge can decide whether
the alleged bribe led to the 1999 indictment.

Theresa Van Vliet, who left the U.S. Attorney's Office in late 2000, will
testify first. Ryan replaced her as the lead prosecutor in the 43-defendant
Operation Millennium cocaine case.

Twenty-five of those defendants have already been convicted.

DEA agent Paul Craine, who wrote the affidavit supporting Ochoa's
extradition to the United States, will testify after her.

Ochoa's attorney, Roy Black, claimed Vega threatened his client that he
would be indicted if he did not pay him the $30 million.

INFORMANT CREDITED

Black said Vega was instrumental in bringing 114 drug traffickers to
federal authorities.

Some could testify against Ochoa at his upcoming trial.

"This program shocks the conscience of the court," said Black, who is
seeking to have the conspiracy charges against Ochoa dismissed because of
the Vega connection.

"There is no doubt there was a conspiracy to obstruct justice," Black said.
``The question is, how far did this conspiracy go and how much was the
government responsible?"

Black added he had no knowledge of any government agents, lawyers or other
officials involved in Vega's alleged scheme.

VEGA LINK DENIED

Ryan said Vega had nothing to do with the government's indictment of Ochoa,
accused of orchestrating the smuggling of 30 tons of cocaine every month
from Colombia through the Bahamas and Mexico into South Florida between
1997 and 1999.

"It was done in good faith, not because someone didn't pay a bribe," Ryan said.

Before charges against Vega and Suarez Lopez were dismissed in 2001, Vega
agreed to forfeit $1.5 million that the FBI seized from his Lincoln Road
penthouse.

Suarez Lopez agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of failing to
report his income to the IRS.