BRIEFS. international

Extradition request moving ahead

Police said yesterday that suspected Colombian drug trafficker William Johny Tamayo Hernández is being held in a secret location out of fear that he may be the target of an assassination attempt.

Police said they believe that his former associates in the Valle del Norte cartel may try to kill him because of information he has about the activities of his former boss, cartel head Juan Carlos Ramírez.

Ramírez was extradited to the United States in 2007 to face drug trafficking charges. The U.S. government has also initiated extradition proceedings to bring Tamayo to that country to face charges.

Tamayo was in Panama for about a month before authorities took him into custody. Migración officials said that they were not aware that he was wanted in the U.S., which is why he was not detained upon arriving in the country.

Drug prosecutor José Abel Almengor said that the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores is dealing with the extradition request.