Status: 10/24/2021 9:08 a.m.
Security forces have arrested Dairo Antonio Usuga, aka Otoniel, one of Colombia’s most wanted drug barons. In addition to drug smuggling, the boss of the so-called golf clan is accused of murder, extortion and kidnapping.
During a large-scale operation in northwest Colombia, security forces arrested one of the country’s most wanted drug lords. Dairo Antonio Usuga alias Otoniel, head of the so-called golf clan, was arrested in the Uraba region in the north-west of the country, said President Ivan Duque. A police officer was killed in the action.
Heavy blow to drug trafficking
This is the “worst blow to drug trafficking in our country in this century,” said Duque. He compared the arrest of Otoniel to the act that led to the killing of drug lord Pablo Escobar in 1993. “Otoniel was the most feared drug lord in the world, a killer of police officers, soldiers and local activists,” Duque said.
Fifty-year-old Otoniel was arrested in an operation in Antioquia province involving 500 Colombian special forces and 22 helicopters. His arrest means “the end of the golf clan,” said Duque. At the same time, the president called on the remaining members of the clan either to surrender or to feel “the full weight of the law”.
Murder, extortion and kidnapping
Otoniel is said to have sent numerous shipments of cocaine to the United States. He is also accused of murder, extortion and kidnapping. The US had offered a reward of five million US dollars for clues about Otoniel’s whereabouts. Colombia had also offered about $ 800,000.
After a career as a left-wing guerrilla and later as a member of a paramilitary group, Otoniel rose to head the “Clan de Golfo” – also known as the Autodefensas Gaitanistas de Colombia (AGC). The clan includes around 1200 armed men, most of them former members of right-wing extremist paramilitary groups. According to the authorities, in addition to drug trafficking, the clan is also involved in illegal mining.