13 October 1999


 
Text: U.S. and Colombian Authorities Deal Major Blow to Drug Traffickers
 
("Operation Millenium" marks unprecedented bilateral cooperation)
(1120)

Colombian authorities have arrested 30 drug traffickers and money
launderers as part of a joint U.S.-Colombian investigation named
"Operation Millenium," U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno announced
October 13. An additional suspect was captured in Mexico by Mexican
authorities.

Those arrested include Alejandro Bernal Madrigal, also known as
"Juvenal," considered to be one of the most significant figures in the
illegal drug trade. Authorities also arrested Fabio Ochoa, who was one
of the leaders of the Medellin Cartel, and who allegedly has continued
his drug trafficking activities since his release from prison in
Colombia in 1996.

The suspects were all indicted on cocaine and money laundering charges
on September 30 by a federal grand jury in Miami. The United States
plans to seek their extradition.

"We believe Operation Millennium has disrupted a consortium of major
Colombian drug trafficking networks responsible for flooding our
streets with tons of cocaine each and every month," said Reno in a
Justice Department news release. "We could not have achieved this
success without the unprecedented cooperation of our national and
international partners."

Following is the text of the release:

(begin text)

LEADERS OF COLOMBIAN COCAINE CONSORTIUM ARRESTED AS PART OF
COORDINATED U.S./COLOMBIAN LAW ENFORCEMENT OPERATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Colombian law enforcement authorities today
arrested 30 drug traffickers and money launderers in Bogota, Medellin
and Cali, as part of a coordinated U.S./Colombian investigation code
named Operation Millennium, Attorney General Janet Reno announced. One
additional person was arrested in Mexico by Mexican authorities.

The arrests are the culmination of a 1-year operation designed to
dismantle a Colombian-based transportation consortium believed to be
responsible for supplying between 20 and 30 tons of cocaine per month
to the United States and Europe. Operation Millennium involved the
unprecedented cooperative effort of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Colombian National Police, the Fiscalia General of
the Republic of Colombia, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami, and the
Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Among those arrested today were Alejandro Bernal Madrigal, a/k/a
"Juvenal," who is believed by law enforcement officials to be one of
the most significant international drug traffickers and money
launderers presently operating. In addition, authorities arrested
Fabio Ochoa, who was one of the leaders of the Medellin Cartel, and
who allegedly has continued his drug trafficking activities with
Bernal and others since he was released from prison in Colombia in
1996.

The individuals arrested today were all indicted on cocaine and money
laundering charges on September 30, 1999, by a federal grand jury in
Miami. The United States plans to seek their extradition.

All of the offenses charged in the indictment are alleged to have
taken place after December 17, 1997, when the Colombian constitution
was amended to permit the extradition of Colombian nationals.

"We believe Operation Millennium has disrupted a consortium of major
Colombian drug trafficking networks responsible for flooding our
streets with tons of cocaine each and every month," said Reno. "We
could not have achieved this success without the unprecedented
cooperation of our national and international partners."

In a pre-dawn raid, Colombian National Police arrested 14 individuals
in Bogota, 1 in Cali, and 15 in Medellin. Mexican officials have also
arrested one of the Colombian nationals charged in Miami. In addition,
DEA agents searched locations in Florida. Colombian law enforcement
agents also executed approximately 80 search warrants throughout
Colombia.

As part of Operation Millennium, U.S. law enforcement seized more than
13,000 kilograms of cocaine in the last two weeks of August alone.
Sixteen individuals were arrested in August in connection with those
seizures and are currently being prosecuted in Mexico and Ecuador.

"Operation Millennium demonstrates that no drug trafficker is above
the law, and illustrates the effectiveness of international
cooperation as a tool to target and dismantle major international
trafficking organizations," said Donnie R. Marshall, DEA Acting
Administrator.

"Bernal believed that his cocaine smuggling activities to Mexico
insulated him from culpability in the United States, but his
indictment in this country and his arrest in Colombia have proven him
wrong. Bernal took his organization into a new realm where high-tech
operations were the norm and where business was transacted in numerous
nations."

Much of the evidence against the defendants resulted from
judicially-approved wiretaps and investigative work undertaken by
Colombian law enforcement authorities in response to a U.S. request
for assistance under the Vienna Convention. Law enforcement devoted
thousands of hours to investigating the alleged drug trafficking and
money laundering activities of the defendants.

In addition, the Miami indictment also charges Mexican national
Armando Valencia with drug trafficking. Valencia is believed to have
risen to prominence in the Juarez Cartel after Mexican drug kingpin
Amado Carrillo Fuentes died in July 1997. Valencia is the primary
transporter of Bernal's drugs into the United States. The United
States has sought the assistance of Mexican authorities for his
arrest.

"Operation Millennium revealed not only the scope of the Colombian and
Mexican trafficking networks, but exposed Bernal's command, control
and intelligence nerve center in the Southern District of Florida, to
law enforcement scrutiny," said Tom Scott, the U.S. Attorney in Miami.
"These sophisticated traffickers employed state of the art
communications equipment -- including encrypted telephones, cloned
cellular telephones and the Internet -- in what was ultimately a vain
attempt to avoid detection by U.S. and Colombian law enforcement."

Operation Millennium was also aided by the Special Operations
Division, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Department of State, the U.S.
Customs Service, the Broward County Sheriff's Office, the City of
Miami Police Department, and the Surfside Florida Police Department.

"The selfless efforts of the combined law enforcement team has exposed
the inner workings of the most significant and dangerous collection of
traffickers and money launderers since the Medellin and Cali Cartels,"
added Scott. "The infiltration of their Colombian communications
system and their command and control operations headed by defendant
Orlando Sanchez Cristancho in South Florida, has provided the most
devastating of evidence -- that which comes straight from the mouths
of the defendants. Our prosecutors and investigators eagerly await the
opportunity to bring these defendants before the Court in South
Florida to face the charges against them."

Today's arrests mark the most significant success to date of the
cooperative initiative spearheaded by Attorney General Reno and her
Colombian counterparts Prosecutor General Alfonso Gomez-Mendez and
Colombian National Police Director General Rosso Jose Serrano to
target for prosecution narcotics traffickers operating in Colombia and
the United States.

The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations and
the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State)