One of Colombia’s most notorious drug lords was extradited to the United States on Thursday, where he will be tried in court for extensive drug smuggling. On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty.
As leader of the powerful Gulf clan, Dairo Antonio Usuga (50) has controlled cocaine routes from Colombia into Mexico and the United States. His cartel is believed to be responsible for 30 percent of all cocaine exports from Colombia, he writes Al Jeezera.
On Thursday, the drug lord was extradited to the United States. Prosecution and potentially many years in a US prison await Usuga, known by the nickname “Otoniel”, reports CNN.
Later that day, he pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking in a New York court.
–73 tons of cocaine
Drug smuggling, criminal activity, murder and money laundering – back home in Colombia, the cartel leader had at least 122 charges against him. Usuga is now facing a series of lawsuits in district courts in both New York and Florida. The US prosecuting authority believes he smuggled at least 73 tonnes of cocaine into the United States between 2003 and 2012, which he today denies.
But for Colombian President Ivan Duque, the extradition is a preliminary victory.
“Today, the law, the rule of law, the security forces and justice prevail,” President Duque wrote when announcing the extradition on Twitter Wednesday this week.
The Colombian president describes Usuga as one of the world’s dangerous drug smugglers.
Usuga’s journey from Colombia to the United States could be followed by the Colombian president twitteraccount where the president posted a number of photos from the extradition, including one of the drug lord sitting on the plane with his hands in his head.
–No bail
On Wednesday afternoon, a convoy of five bulletproof police vehicles transported Usuga from a prison in the capital Bogota to a military airport, where he was handed over to US Drug Enforcement Administration officials.
On Thursday morning local time, he landed in New York and was taken to the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, before the drug lord had to appear before a US federal judge later in the day, reports France24.
He was handcuffed and dressed in orange prison clothes when he appeared in Brooklyn federal court for further framing of the trial.
Usuga did not ask for bail, and judge Vera Scanlon set the trial until June 2, reports France24.
–Massive arrest
Usuga was the most wanted person in Colombia until he was arrested in October last year.
By then, the US State Department had offered up to five million dollars for information that could lead to his arrest or conviction.
In a massive military operation near the border with Panama, with 500 soldiers and 22 helicopters, Usuga was captured by Colombian authorities.
His arrest was one of the largest of its kind against Colombia’s drug trade since Pablo Escobar was killed in 1993.
Usuga’s so-called drug clan “Clan del Golfo” consists of former members of terrorist organizations and “uses violence and threats to control drug smuggling routes, cocaine treatment laboratories, speedboat departure points and secret landing strips”, according to the US State Department.
After Usuga was captured, another 90 suspected gang members have been arrested.
Merciless president
Not everyone is equally happy with the delivery.
Family members of his victims wanted Usuga to be tried in Colombian court, but their appeal was rejected and the extradition of Usuga was approved by presidential decree.
President Duque’s message to other drug offenders is clear:
“..In our government, drug terrorists are captured, extradited or targeted,” he wrote on Twitter, assuring everyone in the Gulf clan that they will suffer the same fate.
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