Drug lord Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as “Otoniel,” has been captured by Colombia’s military in what President Ivan Duque is calling the “the biggest blow to drug trafficking” in his nation since Pablo Escobar died.
Reuters reports that 50-year-old Usuga is accused of sexually assaulting children, killing police officers, recruiting minors, and shipping cocaine to the U.S. The numbers come out to roughly 73 metric tons of cocaine between 2003 and 2014, according to Miami and Brooklyn indictments seen by the Washington Post.
Otoniel was captured on Oct. 23, during what’s been called “Operation Osiris” in Uraba. The Post reports he was living as a fugitive and sleeping in a different place every night, and Reuters says he told authorities “you beat me” upon capture.
The U.S. government previously offered a $5 million reward for locating him, while the Colombian government offered 3 billion pesos (roughly $800,000). The drug lord was the leader of the criminal organization Los Urabeños or the Autodefensas Gaitanistas, made up of former members of terrorist organizations, which the U.S. State Department describes as “heavily armed and extremely violent.”
President Duque said a police officer died during the operation, which involved 500 members of Colombia’s special forces and 22 helicopters, according to Sky News.
“Otoniel was the most feared drug trafficker in the world, a murderer of policemen, soldiers, social leaders, and a recruiter of minors,” Duque said, before warning other criminals on television that “either you surrender, or we will come and get you.”
