Colombia captures a key figure in drug-trafficking cartel

BOGOTA, Colombia - Soldiers swarmed onto a farm yesterday and captured one of the world's most-wanted drug traffickers hiding in bushes and clad only in his underwear. Colombian officials called it their biggest drug-war victory since the 1993 slaying of Medellin cartel leader Pablo Escobar.

Diego Montoya, who sits with Osama bin Laden on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list and has a $5 million bounty on his head, allegedly leads the Norte del Valle cartel, which has been accused of shipping hundreds of tons of cocaine to the Unites States.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference at Bogota's airport that Montoya had been responsible for 1,500 killings.

A U.S. indictment against Montoya that was unsealed in 2004 said that during the last 14 years, the cartel had exported more than 1.2 million pounds of cocaine, worth more than $10 billion, from Colombia to Mexico and ultimately to the United States for resale.

"Drug traffickers, take note: This is the future that awaits you," Santos said before Montoya limped out of an air force plane wearing plastic handcuffs and escorted by five commandos.

Montoya put up no resistance when the army finally cornered him in the cartel's stronghold of Valle del Cauca state on the Pacific Coast, officials said. He was to be questioned before being extradited to the United States, a process that Santos said would take at least two months.

After months of planning, commandos raided the small farm before dawn and nabbed Montoya along with an uncle and three other cartel members, authorities said.

Colombia's government has made major gains against the cartel this year.

Montoya's brother was captured in January. A former cartel leader was extradited in July after pledging to cooperate with U.S. authorities, and the gang's alleged money-laundering chief was arrested last month in Brazil.

Since taking office in 2002, President Alvaro Uribe has approved the extradition of more than 540 Colombians to the United States, the majority on drug-trafficking charges.

The United States is funneling more than $700 million a year to Colombia in antidrug and military aid.