Cartel Czar Escapes Police Dragnet in Colombia

Fugitive cocaine czar Pablo Escobar Gaviria escaped in his underwear into Colombia’s northern jungles, eluding raids by soldiers who killed two of his Medellin cartel bodyguards and captured 55 suspects, police said today.

Soldiers fanned out today in helicopters and speedboats across Colombia’s densely forested Antioquia state, near a ranch allegedly controlled by Escobar, the reputed head of Colombia’s most powerful cocaine empire, who is wanted for extradition to the United States.

“Escobar seems to be in the area,” Gen. Octavio Vargas, the National Police operations director, told Bogota’s Caracol radio. “We are going to continue the search as long as necessary.”

Vargas confirmed previous reports that Escobar escaped in only his underwear as police and army helicopters on Thursday assaulted the ranch house in the Magdalena River valley where he had been hiding.

Medellin drug chieftain Jose Rodriguez Gacha and one of the drug-trafficking Ochoa brothers also were believed to have escaped the raids that began Wednesday night and continued Thursday, Vargas said.

Two members of Escobar’s private army were killed and five wounded in the fighting, said Brig. Gen. Miguel Antonio Gomez Padilla, commander of the National Police. There were no reported security force casualties, he said.

Soldiers arrested 55 bodyguards and reputed associates, whose fierce fighting apparently allowed Escobar and other cartel leaders to escape, officials said.

Escobar’s personal documents and a telephone list containing the names of people closely linked to Escobar were found at the ranch, police said.

Escobar, Gacha and the Ochoa brothers--Jorge Luis, Juan David and Fabio--allegedly run the Medellin cocaine cartel, the country’s most prominent drug ring. The Medellin network reportedly supplies 80% of the cocaine consumed in the United States.

Escobar, a former congressman who reportedly started his infamous career as a car thief, is one of the richest men in the world, with holdings estimated at $2 billion. He is wanted on drug trafficking charges by U.S. courts in Florida, Louisiana and Colorado. Washington has requested his extradition.

Apparently awakened by the approaching helicopters, Escobar fled with 10 bodyguards, leaving behind a shirt with his personal identification card in the breast pocket, news reports said.

The force of Colombian soldiers, police and undercover security agents seized four cartel-controlled ranches and an array of jeeps, speedboats, weapons and two-way radios, Vargas said.

The Magdalena River valley, 90 miles north of Bogota, is a drug cartel stronghold and home of several right-wing paramilitary groups.

The raids were the closest authorities have come to capturing a top kingpin since the government launched an all-out offensive on the drug mafia in August.

Eight Colombians accused of drug trafficking have been sent to the United States since President Virgilio Barco Vargas re-established extradition on Aug. 18 after a string of assassinations attributed to the cocaine cartels.