Colombia’s Most Wanted Drug Lord Otoniel Captured

• Otoniel was captured in his rural hideout in Antioquia province in north-western Colombia, close to the border with Panama…

EKO HOT BLOG reports that Colombia’s most wanted drug trafficker and the leader of the country’s largest criminal gang has been captured.

Dario Antonio Úsuga, better known as Otoniel, was seized 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 US placed a $5m bounty on his head.

President Iván Duque hailed Otoniel’s capture in a televised video message.

“This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century,” he said. “This blow is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.”

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Otoniel was captured in his rural hideout in Antioquia province in north-western Colombia, close to the border with Panama. While details of the operation are still emerging, the president said one police officer had been killed.

Colombia’s armed forces later released a photo showing its soldiers guarding the handcuffed Otoniel.

There have been several huge operations involving thousands of officers to capture the 50-year-old in recent years, but until now none have been successful.

Otoniel become the head of the Gulf Clan, previously known as the Usuga Clan, after its previous leader – his brother – was killed by police in a raid on a New Year’s Eve party almost ten years ago.

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