Colombia Nabs Top Drug Lord

US will seek to extradite Daniel Rendon
By Ambreen Ali,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2009 2:44 PM CDT
Colombia Nabs Top Drug Lord
Police officers stand next to coffins containing human remains, allegedly belonging to people killed by paramilitary fighters and rebels, in Santa Martha, Colombia.   (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Colombian police nabbed their nation's top drug lord today, and the country's president "is breathing easy," a rep told AFP. Daniel Rendon, 43, alias Don Mario, had a $2 million price on his head after allegedly swapping drugs for weapons from leftist FARC rebels. Now that he's in custody, the US will seek his extradition on drug-trafficking charges, the AP reports.

The underworld linchpin—"one of the most feared drug traffickers in the world," president Alvaro Uribe said—was captured in a raid involving 300 officers. Rendon controls 1,500 assassins and had offered his associates $1,000 for each cop they killed. He's also accused of heading right-wing paramilitary groups that have killed more than 10,000 people and stolen millions of acres of land since the 1980s. (More drug cartel stories.)

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