At the time of his detention in an operation over the weekend, Colombia claims that man it calls the world’s most dangerous drug trafficker told security forces: “You beat me.” Colombia’s government has pledged to rapidly extradite him to the United States.
Otoniel, alias Dairo Antonio Usuga, was apprehended by Colombian special forces and 22 helicopters in a rural area of Colombia’s Uraba region, Antioquia province, officials said on Saturday. The operation involved more than 500 members of Colombia’s special forces.
Ivan Duque, president of Ecuador, said on Saturday that Otoniel is also to blame for the deaths of police officers, the recruitment of kids, and the sexual abuse of youngsters.
President Juan Manuel Santos has ordered the extradition of Otoniel from Colombia to the United States, and Justice Minister Wilson Ruiz told Reuters on Sunday that the process may take four weeks to conclude.
Defense Minister Diego Molano warned journalists in Necocli, near the site of Otoniel’s arrest, that “extradition awaits all those who commit international crimes.”
When it came to finding Otoniel, Colombia had given a reward of up to 3 billion pesos ($800,000) and the United States had offered a reward of $5 million.
Molano promised to pay both rewards, calling Otoniel a “worst kind” of criminal in the process.
Dairo Antonio Usuga is the person responsible. Top Gulf clan commander David, alias “Otoniel,” is captured in Bogota, Colombia on October 23, 2021 and pictured following his capture. This picture was taken on the 23rd of October, 2021. Reuter’s/Colombian Police Handout
As a former leftist guerrilla and later a paramilitary, Otoniel ascended through the ranks of the Clan del Golfo (or Gulf Clan) drug trafficking organization to become its commander.
Colombia’s national police estimate that the Clan del Golfo has 3,800 members spread over 12 of the country’s 32 provinces.
Authorities suspect that members of the Clan del Golfo are also engaged in illicit mining. Additionally, the government claims that members of the group have made death threats against community leaders around the country and even killed some of them.
General Jorge Vargas, Colombia’s police commander, said the Clan del Golfo provided a lot of the intelligence that led to the capture of Otoniel.
Vargas claimed that “a large number of Clan del Golfo’s members had betrayed him.”
According to the Colombian Defense Ministry, Otoniel trafficked between 180 and 200 tons of cocaine each year with the Clan del Golfo and was responsible for the killings of over 200 members of the country’s security services.
Hundreds of Otoniel’s lieutenants were killed and captured as Colombian authorities launched Operation Agamemnon in 2016 in an effort to close in on him. They also went after his finances and forced him to be constantly on the move, according to police.
A video of Otoniel declaring his willingness to surrender to the law was released in 2017, but he never followed through on the promise.
Viral: Colombian drug lord Otoniel, in bust compared to Pablo Escobar’s fall