Columbia’s most-wanted drug lord, Otoniel, captured by armed forces

Dairo Antonio Úsuga, known arsenic Otoniel, Colombia’s astir sought aft cause trafficker and person of the Clan del Golfo, has been captured during an cognition carried retired by the country’s equipped forces, subject and constabulary sources confirmed.

Colombia had offered a reward of up to 3bn pesos (about $800,000) for accusation concerning Otoniel’s whereabouts, portion the United States authorities had enactment up a reward of $5m for assistance locating him.

President Iván Duque likened the apprehension Saturday of Otoniel to the seizure 3 decades agone of Pablo Escobar.

After stints arsenic a leftwing guerrilla and aboriginal paramilitary, Otoniel, 50, roseate to go the person of the transgression pack Clan del Golfo, oregon Gulf Clan, a cause trafficking group. The pack has astir 1,200 equipped men – astir of them erstwhile members of far-right paramilitaries – and is contiguous successful 10 of Colombia’s 32 provinces.

Colombian authorities launched Operation Agamemnon successful 2016 arsenic they worked to adjacent successful connected Otoniel, sidesplitting and capturing dozens of his lieutenants, going aft his finances and forcing him to beryllium perpetually connected the move, according to the police.

In 2017 a video successful which Otoniel announced his volition to taxable himself to justness was published, but the program ne'er came to fruition.

In March, Colombian constabulary and the US Drug Enforcement Agency captured Otoniel’s sister, Nini Johana Úsuga, who was extradited to the US to look charges connected to cause trafficking and wealth laundering.

As good arsenic cause trafficking, Clan del Golfo is progressive with amerciable mining, authorities say, portion the authorities accuses the radical of threatening and sidesplitting assemblage leaders crossed the country.