BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombian officials on Saturday announced the capture of Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias “Otoniel,” leader of the violent Clan del Golfo drug cartel and one of the country’s most wanted traffickers.
Authorities had pursued the elusive drug lord for almost seven years and offered up to 3,000 million pesos (US$ 795,000) for information leading to his capture. The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
“This is a coup … only compared to the capture of Pablo Escobar,” said President Iván Duque, confirming the detention in a statement. Escobar, the founder and head of the Medellin Cartel, died in a shootout in 1993.
Duque highlighted the work of Colombian security forces and intelligence and said information was shared with “agencies in the United States and the United Kingdom, given the dangerousness of this criminal.”
Colombia’s army released photographs of Úsuga handcuffed and under guard. Gen. Luis Fernando Navarro said the operation to capture Úsuga was carried out at dawn Friday by more than 500 members of the country’s special forces.
Human Rights Watch Americas director José Miguel Vivanco congratulated Colombian authorities for Úsuga’s detention and urged justice of the victims of “the hundreds of crimes committed under his command.”
“For this capture to help prevent new abuses, serious efforts must be made to fully dismantle armed groups, protect the population and ensure justice,” Vivanco added.
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