A top Colombian cocaine trafficker wanted in the United States has been arrested in Ecuador and may be extradited to Colombia within a few days, a senior government official said Saturday.

Evaristo Porras Ardila, regarded as a leader of the Medellin drug cartel, was detained Thursday in Tulcan, a town on the Colombian border, and turned over to Ecuador's drug police force, the official said.

Another Colombian official, who also demanded anonymity, described Porras Ardila as one of Colombia's "eight most important" narcotics traffickers. He is said to have his base in Leticia in Colombia's Amazon jungle region and has been arrested twice in Colombia but was released by judges both times.