Pubdate: Wed, 29 Dec 2004 Source: Miami Herald (FL) Copyright: 2004 The Miami Herald Contact: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) Note: from the Associated Press POLICE NAB REPUTED DRUG CARTEL LEADER WANTED IN THE U.S. BOGOTA - (AP) -- Colombian police on Tuesday captured a leader of a reputed cocaine cartel wanted by the United States on drug-related charges, officials said. Dagoberto Florez, a capo of the Norte del Valle cartel, was arrested early Tuesday in a rural area outside of Medellin, 250 miles northwest of the capital, National Police chief Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro told reporters. He declined to provide details on the capture. Florez is among nine Norte del Valle cartel leaders being sought for extradition under an order issued by a U.S. federal court in New York in May. The U.S. government offered a reward of up to $5 million for each one earlier this year. Florez is the second one on the U.S. list to be captured, following the arrest in October of Gabriel Puerta-Parra. Castro said it hasn't been decided who, if anyone, would be in line to receive the reward money for Florez's capture. A U.S. official in Bogota described Florez's capture as "important," and said he hoped the offer of reward money would lead to more arrests. In its heyday in the late 1990s, the Norte del Valle cartel was responsible for about half of all the cocaine sold in the United States. The U.S. government says the cartel exported about $10 billion worth of cocaine during the past 15 years. Under President Alvaro Uribe, a strong Washington ally, Colombia has extradited more than 100 alleged drug traffickers to the United States in the past two years. Earlier this month, he extradited Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, a co-leader of the dismantled Cali cartel, who is considered the most powerful drug trafficker to ever see the inside of a U.S. prison. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D