Alleged drug kingpin arrives in U.S.

Ochoa, escorted by DEA agents, arrives in Miami on Saturday

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Fabio Ochoa, allegedly a founder of the infamous Medellin drug cartel, arrived in the United States early Saturday to stand trial on drug trafficking charges, U.S. government sources told CNN.

Ochoa will face trial for a 1999 federal indictment returned in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims Ochoa and his co-conspirators took part in a trafficking scheme in which 20 to 30 tons of cocaine per month were smuggled into the United States and Europe through Mexico.

He is among the highest-ranking drug traffickers to be extradited to the United States. In 1987, another alleged founder of the cartel, Carlos Lehder, was arrested and brought to Florida, where he was tried and convicted.

RESOURCES CNN Access: Ochoa extradition sends a message

Colombian President Andres Pastrana and the Supreme Court of Colombia ordered Ochoa extradited last week, but Ochoa appealed to a judge, who held up his extradition until the U.S. government could assure her that Ochoa would only be charged on the 1999 indictment and not in any of the other federal cases against him.

Ochoa, in shackles, boarded a plane in Bogota, Colombia, without incident Friday night. The aircraft took off around 10:15 p.m. ET, the government sources said.

He was being held at the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami, they said, after arriving in the United States. Two of Ochoa's extradited co-conspirators, Jairo Mesa and Mario Sanchez Cristancho, arrived in Miami on a separate plane shortly after Ochoa's arrival and are also being held in the Federal Detention Center.

Ochoa was arrested in Colombia in October of 1999 as part of an alleged cocaine conspiracy. The indictment charges Ochoa specifically with two counts of conspiracy to possess, with intent to distribute, five or more kilograms of cocaine.

He is scheduled to go before a U.S. magistrate at a time still to be determined for his initial appearance. A spokesman with the U.S. attorney's office in Miami did not return calls for comment.

The U.S. State Department warned Americans in Colombia to "exercise enhanced security awareness" in the wake of Ochoa's extradition. The State Department, in a statement released Friday night, warned Americans to be aware of "the past history of narcotics traffickers conducting bombings in public areas as a reprisal for or deterrent to extradition."

Family business

Law enforcement officials believe Ochoa, along with two of his brothers and the late Pablo Escobar, created the multibillion-dollar cocaine empire known as the Medellin Cartel.

"Fabio Ochoa and his family and his partners in crime in trafficking activity are one of the major reasons that cocaine rose to the level that it is today," said former DEA Special Agent Jim Milford.

A 1986 Miami federal indictment was the first time the so-called "Cocaine Cowboys" were recognized as an organized enterprise. Federal prosecutors in Miami say that the inner workings of the group were no different than any other major corporation, with lawyers on retainer, accountants, and transporters.

Authorities blame the Medellin Cartel for a wave of violence in Colombia that resulted in car bombings and the killings of Colombian officials, including police, judges, an attorney general and a presidential candidate.

As part of an agreement reached with the Colombian government, Ochoa surrendered and spent less than six years in jail in Colombia, along with his brothers, after receiving assurances that they would not be extradited to the United States for past crimes. Ochoa was released in 1996, but three years later was arrested in the DEA's Operation Millennium indictment by Colombian authorities.

Fighting extradition

Ochoa argued that he could not be extradited because of the previous deal with Colombia. In protest of his innocence, Ochoa had billboards erected in Colombia and even set up his own Web site at www.fabioochoa.com.

But DEA head Asa Hutchinson said his battle against extradition was unfounded.

"He is being charged for continuing to be engaged in drug trafficking after his release from prison," Hutchinson told CNN. "What's significant, what's different about Ochoa is his personality, his influence, his power in Colombia."

Former federal prosecutor Mark Schnapp, who helped write the 1986 indictment, told CNN that this extradition has a far-reaching meaning in the drug world.

"If anything, it eliminates a psychological advantage that the traffickers have down there, that 'I can't be touched.' Well, that's just changed," he said.

Hutchinson said that while Ochoa faces only prison if convicted and not the death penalty, the extradition is still a deterrent to others.

"Every individual who engages in (drug trafficking) has to know there is great risk in bringing this poison into the United States," he said. "The message: you cannot escape accountability for this."