By Patrick Markey

BOGOTA, June 21 (Reuters) - Colombian police arrested a suspected top Guatemalan drug trafficker who had fled a Mexican prison by bribing guards while he awaited extradition to the United States, authorities said on Thursday.

Agents from Colombia's DAS security police arrested Otto Herrera in an apartment in the north of the capital Bogota on Wednesday night after refusing a $700,000 bribe he offered each of them to set him free, police said.

"This shows Colombia is not, and will not, be a refuge for criminals," DAS Director Andres Penate said in a statement.

U.S. officials had offered a $2 million reward for information leading to the capture of Herrera, who police said is accused of shipping between 5 and 7 tonnes of cocaine a month into Mexico and transporting drugs into United States.

U.S. law enforcement officials considered Herrera, nicknamed "the teacher" or "the engineer," one of the 40 most wanted traffickers in the world, the DAS said.

Herrera, 42, escaped from a Mexican high-security prison in 2005, apparently by paying off prison guards.

Guatemalan police once found $14 million in a house belonging to Herrera, whose gang was known for using extreme violence against enemies. One suspected informer killed by the gang was shot 18 times.

(Additional reporting by Frank Jack Daniel in Mexico City and Mica Rosenberg in Guatemala City)

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