Ton of Coke at Colombia Official’s Home : U.S.-Bound Cocaine Seized; 2 More Assassinations in Medellin

BOGOTA, Colombia —  Police announced today the discovery of more than a ton of U.S.-bound cocaine at the home of a local government official and reported two more assassinations in the hometown of the Medellin drug cartel.

Colombian authorities said they found 2,200 pounds of cocaine in cigarette boxes bound for the United States at the home of Pedro Rodrigeuz, a former council member of the Atlantic Department, of which the city of Baranquilla is the capital.

Announcing the discovery, Col. Luis Lopez Aponte, the region’s police chief, said four people were arrested in the search Tuesday night and the hunt was on for Rodrigeuz.

The seizure came just hours after Atty. Gen. Alfonso Gomez said that infiltration of the government and military by the narcotics traffickers is interfering with the war on drugs.

In Medellin, gunmen shot and killed a military intelligence officer, Lt. Cesar Garcia Saavedra, and veterinarian Guillermo Leon Uribe in a restaurant Tuesday night, the Ministry of Defense reported in Bogota.

The killings are the latest in a string of assassinations and bombings since “the Extraditables,” a hit squad linked to the cocaine cartels, declared “total war” on the nation in response to President Virgilio Barco Varga’s reinstatement of a treaty with the United States to permit the extradition of drug traffickers.

In an interview published today, a former Brazilian official said eight of Colombia’s 12 most-wanted drug barons are hiding in Brazil.

Laercio Pellegrino, former president of Brazil’s Federal Drug Council, citing what he said was information from the State Department, told the newspaper O Globo the kingpins have been trafficking from their hideout in Brazil since Barco launched his massive anti-drug offensive in August.