Top Drug Suspect Held, US Seeks Case
An alleged top leader of Colombia’s biggest drug cartel was captured today in an early-morning raid in Brazil, and the U.S. reportedly is seeking extradition.
Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, 44, reportedly underwent at least two plastic surgeries to avoid detection, but was arrested as a result of an undescribed tip to police, in a gated compound on the outskirts of Sao Paolo, according to the Associated Press. He is being held as judicial authorities determine whether he should be extradited or face charges in Brazil, said Fernando Francischini, the federal police agent in charge of the investigation, at a news conference.
The United States, which had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest, is seeking extradition of Ramirez Abadia, who is nicknamed “Chupeta,” or “Lollipop” in Colombian Spanish, and is reputed to be a top leader of the Cali, Colombia-based Norte del Valle cartel. He is considered a violent man and is suspected of ordering hundreds of murders in Colombia and the U.S., targeting police and informers, among others, according to a Brazilian police statement.
Ramirez Abadia faces indictments in three federal drug and racketeering cases in the U.S. dating back to the mid-1990s, and is alleged to be responsible for shipping more than 500 tons of cocaine, worth at least $10 billion, from Colombia to the U.S. between 1990 and 2004, reports Reuters.
Convicted in Colombia in 1996 of drug trafficking, illicit enrichment, racketeering and fraud, Ramirez Abadia was released in 2001 but allegedly continued to help operate the cartel from behind bars, according to the two news accounts. He was at one point reputed to have accumulated $1.8 billion in personal assets, but is now believed by the U.S. State Department to owe a substantial amount to drug traffickers, AP reports.
