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Fri, Mar

Colombia's Most Wanted Drug Kingpin, Otoniel, Captured

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The Colombian security forces have on Saturday arrested the leader of the country's largest criminal gang and the most-wanted drug trafficker, Dairo Antonio Usuga, popularly known as "Otoniel'. According to Aljazeera, Otoniel, 50, was captured at his jungle hideout in the Uraba region of the country. The Colombian government had offered an $800,000 reward for information about the kingpin's whereabouts, while the United States government placed a $5 million bounty on his head.


Charges against Otoniel range from “operating continuing criminal enterprises, participating in international cocaine trafficking conspiracies and using firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking crimes”.


Speaking on the development, President Ivan Duque commended Otoniel's capture, likening it to the arrest of notorious Colombian drug lord, Pablo Escobar, three decades ago.


“This is the biggest blow against drug trafficking in our country this century,” he said.


“This hit is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s.”

 

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