PANAMA CITY -- Panamanian police have captured a top Colombian drug kingpin believed responsible for "huge volumes" of narcotics entering the United States, and Colombian officials said yesterday they will seek his extradition. Panamanian officials early yesterday reported the capture of Arcangel de Jesus Henao Montoya in a remote part of southern Panama.
Colombia's attorney general said he will seek the extradition of Henao Montoya, believed to be a top leader of one of Colombia's most powerful cartels, the Norte de Valle. The ring operates out of the southwestern Colombian city of Cali.
"He is wanted by the Colombian justice system and we will make an extradition request," Colombia's attorney general, Luis Camilo Osorio, told Colombia's Caracol Radio yesterday.
It remained unclear whether the United States would also ask for his extradition, although Osorio said such a request was "probable."
Osorio said if that happens, Panama would have to decide which country gets first priority. Colombian officials said yesterday that Henao Montoya is wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges. U.S. government officials in Washington had no comment.
"We're dealing with an individual who had committed crimes in several countries that have been searching for him," Osorio said.
Henao Montoya was arrested in the southern city of Torti and taken to the capital, Panama City, according to Carlos Bares, the chief of Panama's national police. Others were arrested with him, but authorities would not say how many or whom.
In late December, Colombian police captured Juan Carlos Montoya, another senior member of the Norte de Valle cartel and brother to the alleged leader, Diego Leon Montoya. Both are wanted in the United States.
Henao Montoya is on the U.S. Treasury Department's list of specially designated narcotics traffickers for his role in bringing "huge volumes" of illegal drugs to the United States. The designation prohibits U.S. citizens from doing business with Henao Montoya in an effort to incapacitate him.
