Colombian cops thwart kidnapping of Pablo Escobar's brother

Bogota, Agency
One would-be abductor was killed and two others wounded Friday when Colombian police stopped the attempted kidnapping of the brother of late drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Assailants tried to snatch Roberto Escobar from his vehicle in the northwestern city of Medellin, the national police commander, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, said.

Passers-by alerted police, who confronted the assailants, sparking a gunbattle in which one of the attackers was killed and two others wounded.

Police seized the assailants' vehicle along with several guns, Naranjo said.

Roberto Escobar, 63, worked with his late brother in the now-defunct Medellin cartel and went to prison for drug trafficking.

In December 1993, while still behind bars, he lost his eyesight in an attempt on his life with a letter bomb.

The fugitive Pablo Escobar was killed by police on Dec. 2, 1993, in Medellin.