The Colombian government on Friday placed a 5-million-dollar bounty for information leading to the arrest of Vicente Castano, a senior leader of the paramilitary group Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).

Castano is wanted for his role in a drug ring, said Oscar Naranjo, director of Colombia's Judicial Police (PJ). The PJ will shortly publish his photo along with another 10 most wanted drug traffickers in the country.

The police suspended the arrest warrant against Castano as part of a peace process launched in 2003 by the government and the AUC.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who was reelected in May, led the peace process which allowed the demobilization of more than 31,000 paramilitaries during his first term.

He asked main AUC chiefs to turn themselves in several weeks ago, so that the two sides could complete the final phase of the peace process. More than 30 of them have done so, and are now held in a prison in La Ceja, a town in the northwestern department of Antioquia.

But Castano has refused to surrender, sending messages to the government demanding guarantees.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos has said Castano's time was up, and the security forces would now be after him. Having failed to meet peace process terms, Castano would be captured and extradited to the United States, where he is wanted for drug trafficking.

Other AUC chiefs sought by the United States turned themselves in when Uribe promised that they would not be extradited.

Vincente Castano is also wanted in Colombia for allegedly murdering his younger brother, Carlos Castano, in April 2004, when Carlos coordinated the peace process with the government as the AUC's top leader.

Source: Xinhua