The Colombian police have caught the leader of the world’s largest drug trafficking organization, Dairo Usuga, nicknamed Othoniel. How the drug lord was caught, he tells АиФ.ги .
The capture of Colombia’s most wanted drug lord was announced on Twitter by Colombian President Ivan Duque. On this occasion, he spoke on state television.
“Catching a criminal means the end of the drug cartel” is the most serious blow to drug trafficking in the XXI century. The event can be compared in importance only with the arrest in the 90s of Pablo Escobar, one of the most famous criminals in the world,” he commented.
The President of the country noted that several countries, including the United States, are seeking Usuga’s extradition.
The mafia leader was detained in Necocli, 600 km from the capital Bogota, as a result of a special operation “Osiris”.
It took military forces to detain the drug lord. Photo: https://vk.com//Screenshot
Details of the operation “Osiris” are not disclosed. It is known that the military clash took place in the remote mountains of Colombia, near the border with Panama. The special operation involved army aviation consisting of 22 helicopters and 500 police officers. During the arrest of Usugu, a policeman was killed.
There is a short video of the detention on the web. On it, the military with the chevron of Colombia fly by helicopter and pour fire from a machine gun into the mountainous terrain. It is further shown that the criminal is already in handcuffs.
How the drug lord of Colombia was caught
Dairo Antonio Usuga was considered Colombia’s most wanted drug lord. He headed the group “The Persian Gulf Clan”. “The clan” sent tons of cocaine to Central America and the USA through the Uraba region.
Dairo Usuga tried to capture more than once, but without success.
Six years ago, the BBC reported that 1,200 Colombian police officers were involved in the search for Usuga, but all attempts to find the criminal were unsuccessful. Moreover, a Colombian police helicopter crashed in the mountains, performing an operation to catch a criminal. As a result, 18 people died.
In 2017, the US State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of a drug lord.
The drug dealer is detained. Photo: https://vk.com//Screenshot
In 2017, the Colombian anti-trafficking police dropped leaflets from helicopters offering a $5 million reward for information that would help detain him.
President Ivan Duque promised to cooperate with the US authorities, but announced his intention first of all to shed light on the crimes of the drug lord in Colombia itself.