Colombian Linked to Drug Slayings Seized at Border

Federal authorities here have arrested a Colombian citizen who, according to court papers, is a suspected hit-man who is responsible for about 50 drug-related slayings.

Kevin McInerney, assistant U.S. attorney handling the case, said authorities are trying to check the authenticity of the hit-man allegation, which appears in a document attached to a complaint against a Martinez Micolta filed by John Hughes, a special agent of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego. Hughes declined to comment on Tuesday.

The suspect, Adolfo Martinez Micolta, is charged with an immigration violation and is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in lieu of $250,000 bail.

The INS document, a standard form attached to federal complaints, makes no mention of where or when the alleged murders occurred.

Martinez Micolta, 36, was arrested on Friday at the border crossing in San Ysidro as he attempted to enter the United States from Mexico. He and Lucia Minotta de Wittkamp, a 32-year-old Colombian, were found hiding beneath the false floor of a van.

Martinez Micolta was charged with illegally re-entering the United States after being deported on Sept. 22, 1986, from Miami for being in the United States illegally, authorities said.