Brazil Holds Spain`s Most Wanted Drug Trafficker

Spain is preparing an extradition request for Santamaria, Rodrigues said.

One of Spain's most-wanted drug traffickers has been sitting in a Brazilian jail for months under a false name and was only identified this week, Brazilian police said on Friday.

Carlos Ruiz Santamaria, alias El Negro, allegedly set up a distribution network in Europe for three Colombian drug cartels -- Cali, Bogota and La Costa. He is accused of masterminding a drug shipment of 11 tonnes, the largest ever confiscated in Spain, Sao Paulo police police said in a statement.

Santamaria, 41, was held in a Sao Paulo prison since May on charges of fraud and money laundering, the statement said.

His false identity as a Brazilian called Manuel Ortiz unraveled when police noticed his Spanish accent and word usage during an interrogation.

After checking an Interpol data base, police requested finger prints from Spain and confirmed Santamaria's true identity, said Mauricio Rodrigues, spokesman for the organized crime unit of the Sao Paulo police.

Santamaria, who was born in Mexico, is one of the 15 most-wanted criminals in Spain, police said.

Brazil, a large consumer and transit country for drugs, has been stepping up its fight against trafficking in recent years. Police confiscated 4 tonnes of cocaine destined for Romania on Thursday in the southern Paranagua port.

Sao Paulo police are investigating Santamaria's alleged tie's to Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, a Colombian drug cartel leader Brazil extradited last year to the United States, where he is wanted on murder, racketeering and drug charges.

Santamaria fled days before his December 2001 trial in Spain, after he was granted parole on claims he was schizophrenic and suicidal.

Spain is preparing an extradition request for Santamaria, Rodrigues said.