Colombia’s top narcotics baron to face charges in US

COLOMBIA’S biggest drug lord has been extradited to the United States to face trafficking charges in a huge security operation.

Dario Antonio Usuga, known as ‘Otoniel’, was Colombia’s mostwanted person before his arrest last October.

The 50-year-old’s capture was seen as the biggest blow to the drug trafficking trade since the assassination of Pablo Escobar in 1993.

At the time of his arrest, Usuga was facing at least 122 charges for murder, drugs and other crimes.

‘We have extradited, alias “Otoniel”, the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world,’ president Ivan Duque said on Twitter, describing Usuga as a ‘murderer of social leaders and police, an abuser of boys, girls and teenagers’.

On Wednesday, a convoy of five bullet-proof police vehicles took Usuga, who led Colombia’s Gulf Clan group, from jail in Bogota to a military airport, where he was handed over to US officials.

The Gulf Clan is Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking gang, with a personal army of 1,200 armed men.

Usuga stayed under the radar for many years by shunning the extravagant lifestyle of other ‘narcos’ and was protected by a series of safe houses.

He was captured near the border with Panama following a massive military operation involving 500 soldiers backed by 22 helicopters.