Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker and leader of the country’s largest criminal gang has been caught.
Dairo Antonio usuga, better known as Otoniel, was captured after a joint operation by the army, air force and police on Saturday. The government had offered a $ 800,000 (582,000) reward for information about his whereabouts, while the U.S. placed a $ 5 million reward on his head. President Iván Duque hailed Otoniel’s capture in a televised video message.
“This is the biggest blow to drug trafficking in our country this century,” he said. “This shock is comparable only to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.” Otoniel was captured at his rural shelter in Antioquia province in northwestern Colombia, near the border with Panama.
While details of the operation are still being released, the president said a police officer had been killed. The Colombian Armed Forces later released a photo showing its soldiers guarding the handcuffed Otoniel. There have been several major operations involving thousands of officers to capture the 50-year-old in recent years, but so far none have succeeded.
Otoniel becomes the head of the Gulf Clan, formerly known as the Usuga Clan, after his former leader – his brother – was killed by police in a raid on a New Year’s Eve party almost ten years ago. Colombian security forces have labeled the gang as the country’s most powerful criminal organization, with US authorities describing it as “heavily armed [dhe] extremely violent ”.
The gang, which operates in many provinces and has extensive international connections, is engaged in drug and human smuggling, illegal gold mining and extortion. It is believed that there are about 1,800 armed members, who have been recruited mainly by far-right paramilitary groups. Members have been arrested as far as Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Peru and Spain.
(Outney)
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