The Colombian government puts the Gulf Clan in check with the capture of "Otoniel"
The Colombian government on Saturday dealt the hardest blow in nearly three decades to drug trafficking with the capture of Dairo Antonio Usuga David, alias "Otoniel", the feared head of the Gulf Clan and the country's most wanted drug trafficker.
Alias "Otoniel", who for more than six years eluded the intense pursuit of thousands of police and soldiers who combed the villages and jungles of the Urabá region, in the north-east of the country and bordering Panama, as part of Operation Agamenón, was captured at a point called Cerro Yoki, in the jurisdiction of Necoclí, a municipality in the department of Antioquia.
The importance of the capture of "Otoniel", aged 50, was underlined by Colombian President Iván Duque, who this afternoon travelled with the military and police leadership to the Tolemaida base in the centre of the country to give the victory report.
"This is the hardest blow that has been dealt to drug trafficking in this century in our country and it is only comparable to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s," said the head of state.
The president added that the capture of "Otoniel" was the result of a "joint, coordinated and meticulous operation" in which hundreds of members of the police, the army, the marines and the air force took part and which was called "Operation Osiris", a continuation of "Agamemnon".
In the first images released of "Otoniel", he is seen smiling, dressed in black trousers and a black T-shirt and with his hands tied behind his back, as he is led by soldiers armed with rifles after getting off a military helicopter.
After underlining that "Otoniel" was "the most feared drug trafficker in the world", the president stressed that the capture was also "a work of intelligence" in which Colombian forces shared information "with agencies from the United States and the United Kingdom, given the international danger of this criminal".
"He is a murderer of policemen, soldiers and social leaders, as well as a recruiter of minors; he is also known for the insanity that led him to abuse children and adolescents on a recurring basis," is how the president defined "Otoniel" in his statement to the country.
According to the Colombian police, alias "Otoniel" started out illegally in the ranks of the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) guerrillas, from which he withdrew in 1991 after the signing of a peace agreement and shortly afterwards joined the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).
"Over time he became one of the leaders of the Centauros Bloc in the Eastern Plains, alongside his brother Juan de Dios Úsuga David, known in the criminal world as 'Giovanny'," the police said in a statement.
After the demobilisation of the AUC in 2006, "Otoniel" and his brother "began to extend their tentacles in various regions of the country and to consolidate a criminal organisation fed mainly with money from drug trafficking" but also from illegal mining, extortion and smuggling.
"With this blow to alias 'Otoniel', in Operation Osiris, we mark the end of the Gulf Clan. And to all those who have belonged to this criminal structure, the message I am sending them is clear and forceful: either they submit to justice immediately or the full weight of the law will be applied to them in the same way," Duque added.
The commander of the Armed Forces, General Luis Fernando Navarro, gave details of the final phase of the capture operation, which was designed on 15 October and launched in the early hours of Friday morning when Úsuga's last security ring was broken.
The operation involved "more than 500 men from the Army Special Forces, the Marines blocking river corridors, the Air Force providing coverage with its intelligence platforms and moving troops from different areas of the country," said General Navarro, who added that "22 transport helicopters and close air support" were also used.
For his part, the director of the police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, assured that his men were clear "that Otoniel did not go to homes, nor did he communicate by mobile phone" and that "50 satellite intelligence experts" followed his every move in the last few weeks.
According to Gen Vargas, "Otoniel" had eight security rings that were identified through "satellite work with US and UK agencies", so detailed that "we knew what he was eating" and that "his favourite dish was an animal from the jungles of Urabá".
In addition to the 128 arrest warrants he has in Colombia for crimes such as drug trafficking, extortion, homicide, forced displacement, arms trafficking, forming armed groups, conspiracy to commit crimes and crimes against humanity, among others, "Otoniel" has seven convictions and an extradition request from the United States.
On extradition, Duque said today: "we will work with the authorities to achieve that goal as well", but clarified that this should not be an obstacle "so that the whole truth about the rest of his crimes in our country is also known".
