BOGOTA, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Colombia has extradited to the United States the most notorious drug cartel kingpin in its custody, El Tiempo newspaper reported Saturday.
Flanked by a squad of armed guards and wearing handcuffs, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela was escorted onto a U.S. government plane late Friday and flown to the United States to face cocaine trafficking and money laundering charges.
Rodriguez Orejuela -- along with his brother Miguel -- were the founders of the notorious Cali cartel, which during the 1990's controlled an estimated 80 percent of the world's cocaine traffic, raking in upwards of $8 billion a year.
During recent months, Colombia and the United States have worked closely to extradite a number of known narcotics traffickers to American soil where they face lengthy prison sentences.
In 2002, Medellin cartel leader Fabio Ochoa was sentenced to 30 years in a Miami-area prison.
