Drug suspect extradited to U.S.

A reputed Colombian drug smuggler has been extradited to the United States to face charges in New York of running a criminal enterprise that exported and distributed tons of cocaine in this country, the Justice Department said yesterday.

Luis Hernando Gomez-Bustamante, also known as “Rasguno,” was described by federal law-enforcement authorities as one of the leaders of the Norte Valle Colombian drug cartel, which is believed to have shipped more than 500 tons of cocaine to the United States since the early 1990s — with a street value of $10 billion.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) spokesman Rusty Payne said Gomez-Bustamante also faces racketeering charges in an indictment pending in Washington, resulting from an investigation by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in the eastern and southern districts of New York, the Justice Department’s Narcotics and Dangerous Drug Section, and the DEA.

Gomez-Bustamante, who arrived in New York Thursday night aboard a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft, was a fugitive since Oct. 10, 2002, the date on which he was first indicted in New York.

Shortly after his indictment, the State Department offered an award of up to $5 million for information leading to his apprehension.

On July 2, 2004, Cuban law-enforcement officials detained Gomez-Bustamante after he attempted to enter that country on a false Mexican passport. He remained in Cuban custody until Feb. 8, when he was deported from Cuba to his native Colombia. Last week, the Colombian government granted the U.S. extradition request for his return to this country.

According to the indictments filed in New York and Washington, Gomez-Bustamante worked with several Colombian drug transportation specialists and sent multiple-ton shipments of cocaine from Colombia to the Valle del Cauca region.

The indictments said the cartel used trucks and airplanes to transport the cocaine to the Pacific Coast port city of Buenaventura, and from there used Mexican transportation groups to ship the cocaine to Mexico via boat for delivery in the United States.

Mr. Payne said Norte Valle cartel used violence and brutality to further the organization’s goals, including the killing of rivals, persons who failed to pay for cocaine and associates who were suspected to be working as informants for law enforcement.

He said the cartel also relied on the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia, a terrorist paramilitary organization in Colombia, to protect its drug routes, laboratories and its members and associates.

“This long-term investigation and resulting prosecutions demonstrate our ongoing commitment to bring international drug traffickers to justice,” said U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf in New York.

Gomez-Bustamante’s extradition culminated a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New York, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the DEA, Internal Revenue Service and Colombian law-enforcement authorities.