The Colombian Armed Forces have arrested the most powerful drug dealer in the world after the death of the notorious Pablo Escobar, Dair Antonio Usugu, known as Otoniel, the leader of the powerful Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan) cartel, who was arrested in a Colombian writes the Guardian.  

Authorities say intelligence led by the United States and Britain has provided enough information to enable more than 500 Colombian special forces and troops to arrest Otoniel, along with eight of his security guards, who have been following him closely.  

Captured by Otoniel, the cap of the Clan del Golfo. A primicia de @ma_camiladiaz de @WRadioColombia pic.twitter.com/KDzVM0q8nD

- Daniel Coronell (@DCoronell) October 23, 2021

 "Operation Osiris " 

 ИThe target of the operation was called "Operation Osiris". A police officer was killed in the arrest operation. 

"Otoniel was the most feared drug dealer in the world, as well as the killer of police, the military and civilians," said Colombian President Ivan Duke after his arrest.  

"This blow can only be compared to the fall of Pablo Escobar in the 1990s," he added.  

Clan del Golfo is a source of fear and trepidation in northern Colombia, controlling the central routes of cocaine trafficking from Central America to the United States.  

The US government has long put him on the wanted list and offered a $ 5 million reward for his arrest. He was first convicted in 2009 in a Manhattan court of drug trafficking but also of supporting the far-right paramilitary groups, which the United States considers terrorist.  

He was later convicted of smuggling 73 tonnes of cocaine into the United States between 2003 and 2014 via Venezuela, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Honduras. Added to that were the killings of police officers and the sexual abuse of children and young people.  

They capture the main drug lord in Colombia: The most wanted drug trafficker in Colombia, Dairo Antonio ugsuga (alias 'Otoniel'), for whom the United States offered a reward of five million dollars, was captured by Colombian authorities, the government reported this Saturday. pic.twitter.com/x2PEHoZNo

- worldnews24u (@ worldnews24u) October 24, 2021

 Сshift business 

 He began his "career" with his brother Juan Dios as a fighter in the left-wing guerrilla group Army of National Liberation. They were driven by ideological impulses, so when the Army signed a peace agreement with the government in 2006, Otoniel and his brother rejected such an agreement, joining the criminal underworld and launching operations in the strategic Golf de Uraba region of northern Colombia. The cartel later got its name from the toponym. Most shipments of cocaine traveled north of the Gulf of Uraba. Later, they began supporting right-wing guerrilla groups. 

His brother was the first leader of the criminal organization, but was killed in 2012 in a raid on New Year's Eve. Otoniel escaped and took the cartel. He and his bloodthirsty men quickly became known as brutal killers and thugs, especially girls. It is estimated that at the time of his arrest, the Clan del Golfo had about 1.200 members, most of whom had been recruited by radical right-wing paramilitary groups. They worked in 10 of Colombia's 32 provinces.

In addition to their core business, drugs, they engaged in illegal mining, and the area in which they worked was controlled by violence: local leaders who opposed them disappeared. They also earned from extortion. Their reach was wide, and members of the group were arrested in Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Peru and Spain. U.S. prosecutors have declared the clan a "heavily armed, extremely violent criminal organization." 

 Nowhere without a special mattress  

Operation Agamemnon in 2016 was crucial as a number of Otoniel associates were arrested and authorities dealt a severe blow to the clan's financial system. 

Then the constant escapes began. Like any mobster, Otoniel hid in remote rural areas in the jungle, changing the houses he slept in every night. But he always had to have an orthopedic mattress with him, on which he slept due to a back injury.  

The houses he stayed in were not palaces but ordinary barracks, and the police found expensive perfumes, selected and rare types of drinks and food. He had been hiding successfully for years because of fear and trepidation in the Uraba region, so security forces were powerless in their attempts to locate him. 

He also used trained dogs to warn him if a stranger appeared. Authorities managed to catch one of the dogs and train him to look for Otoniel.