WANTED, BUT NOT FOUND (ESCOBAR)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 12, 2000
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: December 4, 1989
• Content Type: NSPR

Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3
Wanted, but
Not Found
The leaders of the powerful
Medellin cocaine cartel have
become folk heroes for their
ability to. escape the relentless
pursuit of government security
forces. Last week Pablo Esco-
bar Gaviria, 39,
a leader of the
drug ring that
controls 80% of
the cocaine en-
tering the U.S.,
pulled off one of
the most im-
pressive get-
aways. In an op-
eration code
named Against
-t& Fortress, some 600 police
d army troops raided _a ranch
scobar managed to elude
them.
When the police fleet of ten
helicopters suddenly appeared.
overhead at 6:30 a.m., one sen-
try ran to alert Escobar and oth-
ers, while bodyguards opened
fire with semiautomatic rifles.
Escobar slipped away by run-
ning through a patch of wild
cane, scuttling across a creek
with planks laid over it and, fi-
nally, jumping into a speedboat
and disappearing. A wide-scale
ground and helicopter search
failed to turn up Escobar, who
is included on the U.S. Justice
Department's list of the twelve
most wanted Colombian drug
traffickers. ?
Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789R003501040006-3