Colombia, Pressing Drug Crackdown, Turns Over 5 Suspects Sought by U.S.

Sending a signal to drug traffickers that it will press a narcotics crackdown despite their threats of violence, Colombia on Friday extradited five suspected narcotics traffickers to the United States.

Under tight security, the four men and one woman wanted in the United States on trafficking charges were placed aboard a U.S. Air Force plane in Bogota about 4 a.m. for the flight to Miami.

Among the suspects were Severo Escobar Ortega, an alternate congressman who earlier served as agriculture secretary in the state of Cundinamarca and as mayor of the town of Zipaquira.

The others were identified as Jose Cabrera Sarmiento, Carlos Alfonso Troncoso Jimenez and Bertha Paez Gonzales, all Colombians, and Rene Benitez, a Cuban.

Benitez was accused by Colombian officials of trying to kill a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent in 1982, but was never tried on the charge. Two DEA agents were shot and wounded in the incident.

Under a treaty which took effect in 1982, Colombia has returned 10 men and two women to the United States to face drug charges. The seven earlier extraditions occurred last year. The United States has extradited two suspects to Colombia.

“These latest extraditions reflect a serious commitment in our mutual efforts against narcotics trafficking and to implement the U.S.-Colombian extradition treaty,” a U.S. Embassy official said.

U.S. officials say most of the cocaine and much of the marijuana smuggled into the United States comes from Colombia.

The Colombian government launched a crackdown after the 1984 assassination of Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla, who had waged a one-man campaign against drug traffickers.