Columbia’s most wanted drug lord captured

Columbia’s most wanted drug lord captured after more than a decade on the run.

The arrest of Dairo Antonio Úsuga has been compared to that of Pablo Escobar. Úsuga is also known as Otoniel. He has avoided capture for over a decade. He had been a firm fixture on the most wanted list for the Drug Enforcement Administration in the United States. A $5 million reward had even been offered for his capture.

Colombia’s president described Úsuga as “the most feared narcotrafficking leader in all the world”. He was arrested on Saturday, October 23.

The military in Colombia showed off after the arrest of the 50-year-old fugitive. Úsuga has been pictured in handcuffs after the arrest.

According to President Iván Duque, the capture is the: “largest strike against the narcotrafficking gangs in this century in our country. This is only paralleled by the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s”.

Úsuga had reportedly led the Gulf Clan. Colombia has been terrorised by assassins from the Gulf Clan. It is believed that Úsuga managed to evade imprisonment for so long after he corrupted officials. He has been on the run for 12 years.

A Manhattan federal court first indicted him in 2009. This was on drugs charges. He had also allegedly helped a paramilitary group which the US government considered to be a terrorist organisation.

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