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Colombia to extradite drug lord ‘Otoniel’ to the United States

Colombia’s ‘Most Wanted’ drug trafficking and criminal ring  Dior Antonio Usuga ‘ Otoniel’ will be handed over to the United States, government and security sources said.

Otoniel (50) was caught by Colombia’s armed forces, after evading arrest for more than a decade, during an operation in a rural area of Colombia’s Uraba region, Antioquia province, officials said on Saturday.Otoniel was detained at a military base in the country’s capital, Bogota.

Colombia’s president Iván Duque Márquez likened the arrest to the capture three decades ago of Pablo Escobar.

Otoniel faces extradition orders from the United States, and Mr Duque Márquez said the country will work with authorities to make sure the extradition takes place.

Getting the drug trafficker, who faces dozens of arrest warrants, to the US is Colombia’s priority following his capture, a government source and two security sources told Reuters.

Colombia had offered a reward of up to three billion pesos (about €682,000) for information concerning Otoniel’s whereabouts, while the US government had put up a reward of $5 million (€4.3 million) for help locating him.

Otoniel is the alleged head of the much-feared Gulf Clan, whose army of assassins has terrorised much of northern Colombia to gain control of major cocaine smuggling routes through thick jungles north to Central America and onto the US.

He has also cycled through the ranks of several guerrilla groups, most recently claiming to lead the Gaitanist Self Defence Forces of Colombia. – Reuters

In Colombia, Otoniel had 128 outstanding arrest warrants for drug trafficking and recruitment of minors, among other crimes.

“He murdered more than 200 members of the security forces… Many soldiers have suffered because of this murderer and his friends,” President Ivan Duque said.

Otoniel also preyed on minors, “intimidating families and extorting them in order to take their daughters’ virginity,” Duque added.

Colombia to extradite drug lord 'Otoniel' to the United States

“This is the hardest strike to drug trafficking in our country this century,” the president said Saturday, adding that the arrest was “only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar,” the notorious Colombian narco-trafficking kingpin.

“We are going for more, we are going for victory against all high-value targets,” Duque vowed from a military base in the country’s northwest.

The Clan del Golfo has a presence in 12 of Colombia’s 32 provinces, and counts some 3,800 members, according to information provided by Colombia’s national police.

Clan del Golfo is also involved in illegal mining, authorities say. The government also accuses the group of threatening and killing community leaders across the country.

Colombia’s police chief, General Jorge Vargas, said much of the information leading to Otoniel’s capture came from Clan del Golfo members.”A lot of Clan del Golfo’s people betrayed him,” Vargas said.

 

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