DomRep extradites Colombian cocaine suspect to US

The Associated Press
6:11 p.m. September 28, 2009

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — A Dominican official says an alleged Colombian cocaine trafficker arrested in the Dominican Republic has been extradited to the United States.

The official says Luis Alberto Santacruz Echeverri, known by the nickname "Lucho," was extradited Monday to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

Roberto Lebron, spokesman for the National Drug Control Agency, says the extradition request was signed Thursday by a U.S. federal judge in New York charging Santacruz with conspiring to smuggle hundreds of kilograms (pounds) of cocaine to the U.S.

Santacruz also faced drug trafficking charges in the Dominican Republic, but Lebron says the government preferred to send him to the U.S. for trial.

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