Colombia drug dealers run from law

Press, 7 May 1984, Page 6

Colombia drug dealers run from law

NZPA-Reuter Bogota Colombia’s leading drug traffickers, faced with a presidential declaration of war after the killing of the country’s Justice Minister, are leaving the country for havens where they will be safe from extradition, State Security (D.A.S.) sources said at the week-end.

The fugitives include Pablo Escobar Gaviria and Carlos Ledher Rivas, described by authorities as the two most powerful traffickers in Colombia, the sources said.

The United States had repeatedly sought Ledher Rivas’s extradition on charges of conspiracy, drug trafficking and car theft. Both men’s homes were raided by the police after the President, Dr Belisario Betancur, imposed a state of siege after the death last week-end of the Justice Minister, Mr Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, a strong foe of drug traffickers.

Nine dangerous traffickers were caught in a massive swoop by security forces and they now face trial by military courts, to avoid death threats against civilian judges.

Colombia’s Civil Aviation Board has imposed a flying ban on all small aircraft and said that 40 Colombianregistered planes had been seized by the National Drug Council’s request. A week ago, authorities confiscated another 50 aircraft allegedly used for drug trafficking.

President Betancur told a meeting of 23 governors on Saturday that they should apply siege measures firmly but without excesses.