President’s Aide, Reporter Kidnapped

Suspected drug traffickers have kidnapped President Ernesto Samper’s press secretary and a radio reporter, a radio network said. The RCN network said two people describing themselves as members of “the Extraditables” telephoned to say they were holding the spokesman, William Parra, and an RCN reporter, Luis Eduardo Maldonado. “The Extraditables” was the name of a shadowy group formed by late Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar. Samper issued a statement demanding the immediate release of the two men, believed held by drug lords opposing a recent vote in Congress lifting a ban on extradition.