Operation Millennium

	Special report: A Scam in the Drug War (second of two parts) Read part 1
	[Times photo: David Adams]
	In the late afternoon at La Loma, the Ochoa family rank in the hills above Medellin, stable hands groom some of Colombia's best Paso Fino walking horses.
	The money and the drugs, a map showing routes: click to enlarge
	Special report Operation Millennium Sources for this special report Who's who

Investigation: 12-month, joint U.S.-Colombian effort, unveiled Oct. 13, 1999; employed sophisticated wiretaps and camera surveillance; run by DEA's Group 9 in Fort Lauderdale and assisted by DEA agents at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota.

Targeted Alejandro Bernal, who operated clearinghouse for some of Colombia's most prolific cocaine producers. Syndicate said to have smuggled 20 to 30 tons of cocaine a month, through Mexico, to the United States.

Prosecution: 43 people indicted, all but one in Colombia; to date, 33 have been extradited and 17 have pleaded, for an average sentence of 61/2 years.

Drugs seized: More than 9.5 tons of cocaine seized at sea; another 10-ton shipment interrupted in planning stages.

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