3 COLOMBIANS WANTED

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said Tuesday that the United States will
seek the extradition of Carlos Castano and two members of his right-wing
paramilitary group in Colombia who were indicted on charges of trafficking
in more than 17 tons of cocaine since 1997.

Ashcroft said Castano, Salvatore Mancuso and Juan Carlos Sierra-Ramirez are
violent drug traffickers who "threaten our national security."

In Colombia, Castano said he was innocent and that he would turn himself in.

His group, the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish
initials of AUC, has led a war against leftist rebels and has killed
civilians suspected of collaborating with the insurgents.