Colombia extradites accused drug trafficker Otoniel to the US
(Picture: via REUTERS)The drug trafficker and leader of the Clan del Golfo criminal group has been extradited to the US, the President of Colombia has said.
Dairo Antonio Usaga, who is known as Otoniel, has trafficked between 180 and 200 tonnes of cocaine a year with the Clan del Golfo, Colombian authorities said.
The President of Colombia Ivan Duque compared Otoniel to deceased drug lord Pablo Escobar and hailed his extradition as a triumph.
Clad in a bulletproof vest and helmet, the 50-year-old arrived at an air base in Colombia’s capital Bogota where he was seen on to a plane by Colombian police.
Otoniel is wanted in the US for crimes including drug trafficking, conspiracy and illegally possessing weapons.
“This extradition shows nobody is above the Colombian state,” President Duque said in a video message.
Extradition to its top ally is one of the main weapons in Colombia for fighting drug trafficking as well as one of the outcomes most feared by drug traffickers.
The drug trafficker was captured during an operation involving 500 members of Colombia’s special forces and 22 helicopters.
He later told the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) tribunal that he handed himself in.
Otoniel was detained last October in Antioquia province.
He was Colombia’s most wanted man before he was captured.
Colombia had even offered a $800,000 (£582,000) reward for information about the drug trafficker’s whereabouts.
The process of sending Otoniel to the US began after Colombia’s top administrative tribunal lifted a provisional order suspending his extradition.
Authorities said Otoniel was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of members of Colombia’s security forces.
His lawyers had tried to argue against his extradition.
Colombia abolished extradition to the United States in 1991 amid a terror campaign of killings and bombings by drug cartels.
But Congress restored extradition in 1997.
