Why is Sombra being threatened?
Like a cocaine-fueled Homeric epic, Colombia’s long tragic battle with the drug cartels has produced countless heroes and villains. But one figure cutting across the country’s current narco battlefield, a name drawing praise and hate alike, is actually a 6-year-old German shepherd you can find trotting through the country’s airports.
Sombra — “Shadow” in English — is a drug detection dog with the Colombian National Police. Over the last few years, her radar nose has led to more than 200 arrests and the seizure of at least 9 tons of illicit drugs.
That success has turned the dog into something of a folk hero in a country consumed by ongoing bloodshed piled on top of a long legacy of drug violence. The Colombian press has even dubbed Sombra “the terror” of drug traffickers.
But Sombra is so good at her job that Colombia’s dominant drug crew is retaliating. They’ve put a price on the dog’s head.
According to Colombia’s RCN Radio, police intelligence recently learned about the bounty set by the Urabeños, also known as the “Gulf Clan.” Reports vary on the price tag for killing the dog, between 20 and 200 million Colombian pesos, or about $7,000 and $70,000 in American currency. But the threat is serious enough for the National Police to take extra precautions for Sombra’s security.
“The fact they want to hurt Sombra and offer such a high reward for her capture or death shows the impact she’s had on their profits,” a police spokesperson told the Telegraph.
Sombra came to Colombian law enforcement from a kennel in Antioquia, the region of the country that’s home to Medellín, the springboard for Colombia’s fearsome cartels of the 1980s and 1990s.
Outfitted in a neon-yellow vest, the dog is tasked with thrusting her trained snout into luggage and packages in Colombia’s ports and airports along the country’s Gulf Coast.