After sending 550 tons of cocaine to the United States over several years, a drug lord from Colombia is extradited to the United States.

From the AP (via Google News):

Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia was extradited to the United States on Friday to face racketeering charges, a year after he was captured in a luxurious hide-out on the outskirts of South America’s largest city.

Ramirez Abadia was flown before dawn from a prison in central Brazil to the Amazon region jungle city of Manaus, where he was handed over to agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said Romeu Tuma Jr., a high-ranking Justice Ministry official.

Tuma said that Abadia was being flown to New York City in a U.S. government plane.

Tuma said the extradition was not revealed earlier “for obvious security reasons.”

The remote maximum security prison where Ramirez Abadia was staying was attacked earlier this year by armed gunmen apparently trying to free him and Brazilian drug lord Luiz Fernando da Costa.

Between the years 1990 to 2003, Abadia is beleived to has been a leading exporter of cocaine to the United States.

Ramirez Abadia has acknowledged trafficking cocaine and prosecutors say his Norte de Valle cartel shipped 500 metric tons (550 tons) of cocaine to the United States from 1990 to 2003.

Abadia radically altered his facial appearance with repeated plastic surgeries in an attempt to avoid capture in Brazil. But his own words gave him away, thanks to advanced voice recognition technology that has become a key tool in the war against drugs and terrorism.