Colombia to extradite drug lord Otoniel to US

Dairo Antonio Usuga was arrested on Saturday in raid involving 700 agents

Colombia is working to extradite its most-wanted drug trafficker Otoniel to the US.

The drug lord, whose real name is Dairo Antonio Usuga, was arrested on Saturday in a dense jungle in the north-western part of the country.

The operation involved about 700 uniformed agents who were backed by 18 helicopters, according to the army.

Colombian Defence Minister Diego Molano told El Tiempo newspaper that there was an extradition order in progress against Otoniel, 50, leader of the Gulf Clan, the country's largest drug-trafficking gang.

"This is the path for all those who commit transnational crimes," Mr Molano said.

About 30 per cent of the cocaine exported from Colombia went through the Gulf Clan, he said.

The US had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Otoniel, one of the most feared men in Colombia.

"This is the hardest strike to drug trafficking in our country this century," President Ivan Duque said.

He said the arrest was "only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar", the notorious Colombian drug-trafficking kingpin who was killed by security forces in 1993.

"We are going for more. We are going for victory against all high-value targets," Mr Duque said from a military base in the country's north-west.

The president of Colombia, Ivan Duque, arrives at the Army's 17th brigade to meet the police and soldiers who participated in the operation that led to the capture of Otoniel. EPA

The government accuses other armed groups such as the Popular Liberation Army, or the EPL, and rebels who walked away from the peace pact signed with the FARC guerrillas in 2016, of financing themselves with drug trafficking revenue.

Born to a poor family, Otoniel joined the EPL, a Marxist guerrilla group that demobilised in 1991.

A paramilitary fighter, he ultimately led the Gulf Clan, with a force of some 1,600 men and a presence in about 300 municipalities nationwide, according to the independent think tank Indepaz.

In Colombia, Otoniel had 128 arrest warrants outstanding for drug trafficking and the recruitment of minors, among other crimes.

"He murdered more than 200 members of the security forces. Many soldiers have suffered because of this murderer and his friends," said Mr Duque.

Otoniel also preyed on minors, "intimidating families and extorting them in order to take their daughters' virginity," the president said.

In five decades of a US-backed drug war, Colombia has killed or captured several drug lords, including Escobar.

However, the country remains the world's leading cocaine producer, with the US its biggest buyer.