A leading Colombian FARC rebel, captured in the operation to release hostage Ingrid Betancourt, has been handed over to the US on drug trafficking charges.
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebel Gerardo Aguilar (alias Cesar) 'has been extradited from Colombia to the United States to face cocaine importation conspiracy charges', the US Justice Department said in a statement.
The alleged drug trafficker is scheduled to appear early today in a US federal court in Washington before District Judge Thomas Hogan, it added.
He was handed to US authorities at a military facility west of the Colombian capital Bogota yesterday.
Under a separate indictment, Mr Aguilar is charged in a conspiracy to take four US citizens hostage - Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, Keith Stensell and Tom Janis.
The group were captured by the FARC after their plane crashed in February 2003 in territory occupied by the Marxist militants in the Colombian jungle.
Mr Janis was killed and the other three were held hostage for more than five years.
In 2008, they were rescued in a dramatic operation along with Ms Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate with dual French nationality, and 11 Colombian military and police.
Mr Aguilar was captured during the military rescue operation, code-named 'Jaque', or Checkmate, along with fellow rebel Alexander Farfan. The FARC accused the pair of being 'traitors'.
But the Colombian Supreme Court only approved Mr Aguilar's extradition on the narcotics conspiracy charges and not the hostage-taking charges, the Justice Department explained, saying the 50-year-old former guerrilla would only be tried for allegations of drug trafficking.
Ms Betancourt announced this month that she will work with a top Hollywood producer on a film about the six years she was held captive in the jungle by the FARC, Latin America's oldest and biggest guerrilla group.
