Top drug cop- Ochoa arrest won't damage cocaine trade

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The extradition of reputed drug boss Fabio Ochoa to Miami -- seen as a victory for U.S. drug agents -- won't put a dent into the world's flourishing cocaine trade, Colombia's top anti-drug lawman said Saturday.

"There are millions of consumers and thousands of people willing to supply that demand," said Gen. Gustavo Socha, head of Colombia's anti-narcotics police.

Ochoa, who arrived in Miami early Saturday to face trial, was a leading member of the Medellin cocaine cartel, which waged a war of terrorism in the 1980s and early 1990s to pressure the Colombian government to bar extraditions to the United States.

The Medellin cartel had moved amateurish smuggling operations into the big leagues, delivering tons of cocaine to the United States by plane. But the cartel's heyday ended when its top leader, Pablo Escobar, was shot dead by police in 1993. The smuggling landscape has since changed dramatically, with no single gang being dominant.

The rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and their right-wing paramilitary foes control the production of cocaine by protecting and taxing farmers who grow cocaine-producing crops and clandestine processing labs.

The purified cocaine is then picked up by various smuggling groups for shipment abroad. The system works well: Colombia has for years supplied more than 80 percent of the world's cocaine.