Millionaire Extradited For Drug Trial/tbo.com March 20, 2004

[tlcandie]

http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAF53I71SD.html


<snip>
TAMPA - A Colombian millionaire who federal authorities say was a top cocaine smuggler for the Cali cartel was quietly extradited to Tampa on Friday to face trafficking charges that could put him in prison for 40 years.

Joaquin Mario Valencia- Trujillo, 46, with assets in the range of $500 million, was flown to Tampa by federal agents early Friday morning. The agents say he was the main target of Operation Panama Express, a decadelong effort to end cocaine smuggling into the United States from Colombia.

Valencia-Trujillo is ``a very big deal,'' said Dominic Albanese, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Tampa office. ``I would say he's as big as Pablo Escobar, if not larger.''
<snip>