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BOGOTA – One of Colombia’s most notorious drug lords was extradited yesterday to the United States to face drug trafficking charges, said President Ivan Duque.
“I want to reveal that we have extradited Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias ‘Otoniel’; the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world,” Duque said on Twitter.
Usuga, 50, was the most wanted person in Colombia until he was arrested last October in the northwest of the country following a massive military operation.
Duque described Usuga as a “murderer of social leaders and police, an abuser of boys, girls and teenagers. Today legality, the state of law, the security forces and justice triumphed.”
In the afternoon, a convoy of five bullet-proof police vehicles took Usuga from his jail in Bogota to a military airport, where he was handed over to US Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
Images shared by local media showed a handcuffed Usuga seated in an aeroplane alongside Colombian police and an Interpol official.
Usuga was the leader of Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking gang, known as the Gulf Clan.
He was captured near the border with Panama following a massive military operation involving 500 soldiers backed by 22 helicopters, in which one police officer was killed.
It was one of the biggest blows to Colombia’s drug trafficking business since the assassination of Pablo Escobar in 1993.
Usuga was indicted in 2009 in the US, which had offered a $5 million (RM21.7 million) bounty for information leading to his arrest.
The United States accuses Usuga and the Gulf Clan of illegally bringing at least 73 tons of cocaine into the country between 2003 and 2012.
Following Usuga’s arrest and that of another 90 suspected gang members, Duque declared the "end" of the Gulf Clan.
However, four Colombian soldiers were killed in attacks blamed on the gang just days after Usuga’s arrest.
The Gulf Clan was believed to be responsible for 30% of cocaine exports from Colombia, the world’s largest producer and supplier of the drug.
“This criminal was extradited to serve drug trafficking sentences in the United States. But I want to be clear that once those are served, he will return to Colombia to pay for the crimes committed against our country,” said Duque. – AFP, May 5, 2022