Colombia’s most wanted drug dealer, Dairo Antonio Usuga, also known as ‘Otoniel’, has been arrested. His capture marks a major victory for the conservative government of President Ivan Duque, considering that the country is the largest cocaine exporter in the world. “This is the hardest blow that drug trafficking has suffered in this century in our country and is comparable only to the fall of Pablo Escobar”, declared president confirming the arrest of the leader of the ‘Clan del Golfo’, the most powerful criminal group among Colombian drug traffickers. Duque added that Otoniel “is the most feared drug trafficker in the world, killer of policemen, soldiers, social leaders and is also accused of sexual abuse of minors”. Otoniel, 50, was captured during Operation Osiris in a rural area of the Colombian region of Uraba, in the province of Antioquia. A police officer died during the operation.
The United States had offered a $ 5 million bounty for information leading to the arrest of the drug trafficker, one of the most feared men in the country. Otoniel took over the leadership of the Gulf Clan, formerly known as the Usuga Clan, from his brother Juan de Dios, who was killed by police in 2012. The clan is present in nearly 300 municipalities across the country, according to the independent Indepaz think tank. The organization has been fought in recent times by several targeted operations against its members: the few left at large, according to the police, have been forced to hide in the jungle without phones. Colombia is the world‘s leading supplier of cocaine, with the United States as the main market, despite half a century of attempts to crack down on drug trafficking.