Drugs agents were not amused by Lopesierra's attire

Samuel Santander Lopesierra, better known in Colombia as "the Marlboro Man", was handed over to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the DEA, and flown to Washington on Friday.

He has vowed to name corrupt political allies in exchange for fair treatment in America.

Lopesierra - called the "Marlboro man" because he formerly smuggled cigarettes in the northern desert province of Guajira - left prison dressed in a red and white tracksuit with the Marlboro logo emblazoned on it.

The DEA agent who took custody of him did not seem to enjoy the joke, the BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia reports.

Lopesierra was arrested last October with 14 other people on charges of trafficking cocaine to the US and sent to Combita, a high-security prison north of the capital, Bogota.

If convicted on drugs trafficking charges, he could be sentenced to up to thirty years in prison.

Fear

Speaking to local radio before he was taken to Washington in a convoy of Drugs Enforcement Administration helicopters, he said he feared for his life.

There are people interested in seeing that I don't clarify things before the American Government Samuel Santander Lopesierra

"Since yesterday, I've been on a hunger strike because there are serious indications they want to poison me," he told W-FM radio.

"There are people interested in seeing that I don't clarify things before the American Government."

Lopesierra is the first former senator to be extradited to the United States to face drug trafficking charges.

He says the secrets he knows means he cannot stay in his home country any longer.

"I know many international companies that are involved in financing political campaigns... and there are cases of contraband that are going to be revealed in the US that will complicate things for the Colombian state," he said.

Crackdown

Supporters of Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe say the arrest and successful extradition of the former senator shows he is serious about cracking down on drug crime in the country.

He is a close Washington ally and has extradited more than 70 suspected drug smugglers to America.

Colombia remains the world's largest cocaine producer and America's top heroin supplier.

America gives it hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid every year to combat drugs and guerrilla groups who fund themselves with drugs money.