**One of the co-founders of the Medellin drug cartel has written to the Colombian president asking to be returned to his home country.**Carlos Lehder was extradited to the US in 1987, where he is serving a 55-year sentence for drug smuggling.
Lehder, 61, argues he should have been released two years ago.
He says he struck a deal to have his sentence reduced in return for his testimony against the former Panamanian leader Manuel Noriega.
Sentence served?
Colombian newspaper El Tiempo published excerpts from Lehder’s letter to the president in which he stresses he has served his time.
“Mr President: I was extradited at the age of 27, this year I’m turning 61… I have obeyed the laws and followed the orders of the jailers who punish me, I admit my guilt but I have served the agreed sentence” the paper quotes him.
Lehder argues the US judicial system is breaking an agreement he had with them.
He says that under the deal, he should have been released in 2008 in recognition of his role as a star witness in the US trial against Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges.
The Medellin cartel, which Lehder co-founded, had close links with Manuel Noriega, who allowed it to ship cocaine through Panama for a reported $100,000 per load.
Mr Noriega has served a 20-year sentence in the US and is currently awaiting trial in France on charges of laundering drugs money.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?d=yIl2AUoC8zA http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?d=dnMXMwOfBR0 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/bbcnewsworldfullfeed?i=nDjvWxXH7l8:3hRVgNl9KBw:V_sGLiPBpWU
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/bbcnewsworldfullfeed/~4/nDjvWxXH7l8