Agents Alerted on Reprisals
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WASHINGTON — U.S. narcotics agents and their families worldwide were put on alert today to prevent any retaliatory attacks from Colombian drug traffickers for the arrest of a leading cartel member, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration said.
DEA chief John Lawn also said the extradition of accused drug kingpin Carlos Enrique Lehder Rivas will not “minimize the trafficking of cocaine in the United States . . . because the cartel continues to operate.”
Lawn said Lehder, a ringleader in the infamous Medellin cartel that supplies up to 75% of the cocaine to this country, “is reputedly the most violent of” the cartel members, who include Jorge Ochoa, his brother Fabio and Pablo Escobar, all wanted in the United States.
Lehder, captured in a shoot-out, was brought to Florida early today for a federal court appearance in Tampa. He later faces a detention hearing in Jacksonville.
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