Drug baron fatally shot in hospital

MADRID - A convicted Colombian drug baron with links to two major smuggling cartels was shot dead in a Madrid hospital yesterday, officials said.

Leonidas Vargas, 60, who was convicted of drug trafficking, was murdered in a hospital bed where he was being treated for lung disease, police said.

Police and hospital officials said at least one person entered Vargas's room at Doce de Octubre hospital and fired four shots.

Vargas was arrested in Madrid in July 2006 and convicted of possessing 500 kilograms of cocaine, a police spokesman told The Associated Press on customary condition of anonymity.

When Vargas was arrested near a Madrid hotel he was also in possession of a fake Venezuelan passport.

Vargas had been sentenced to 19 years in prison and was transferred to the Madrid hospital for medical treatment on Jan. 2.

ASSOCIATED PRESS