The government on Saturday offered $600,000 for the capture of either of Colombia's two most powerful drug lords, more than doubling the previous reward.

The higher reward was offered in television advertisements run by the government, which has been trying for 10 weeks to crack the highest levels of Colombia's powerful and feared cocaine cartels.The government previously had offered $250,000 for the capture of either Pablo Emilio Escobar-Gaviria or Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez-Gacha, the leaders of the huge Medellin cocaine cartel.

The television spots, run nationwide, show a wanted poster with mug shots of the two suspects. The ad offers $606,000 for the capture of either man.

The government of President Virgilio Barco has extradited four Colombians to the United States since the drug war began Aug. 18. Nine more are awaiting extradition.

However, all are middle-ranking traffickers. None is on a U.S. Justice Department list of the 12 most-wanted Colombian traffickers, a list topped by Escobar and Rodriguez.

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U.S. officials in Colombia have said they believe Escobar, Rodriguez and other top members of the Medellin cartel are still in Colombia.

The fugitives, the officials have said, are protected by bribes, fierce loyalty of people they have helped and by outright fear of people who think they will be signing their own death warrants if they try to collect the reward.

Meanwhile, 10 young people were killed in the Medellin area Friday night, including five women whose bodies were thrown from moving cars, police said.

Earlier this week, the bodies of seven teenagers who had been shot to death were found in Medellin, the recruiting ground for drug traffickers' private armies.

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