One of Colombia’s most wanted drug traffickers was captured in neighbouring Venezuela on Tuesday with the help of Caracas as well as British and US intelligence agencies, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said.
Authorities in Colombia, one of the world’s top cocaine producers, had been closing in on Daniel Barrera – known as “Crazy Barrera” – in recent weeks, arresting 36 members of his gang and seizing five tonnes of the drug and 21 aircraft.
“Crazy Barrera has been perhaps the most wanted kingpin in recent times,” Santos said. “He has dedicated 20 years to doing bad things to Colombia and the world, all types of crime, perverse alliances with paramilitaries, with the Farc (rebel group).”
In a televised speech, Colombia’s president said Barrera was captured in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, about 24 kilometres from the Colombian border. Santos said the operation was directed from Washington by a Colombian police general.
The government says Barrera’s smuggling ring was capable of sending 10 tonnes of cocaine a month to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful organised crime gang in the Americas.
He had a US$5 million bounty on his head from the United States and US$2.7 million from the Colombian government.
Santos thanked US and British intelligence agencies as well as Venezuela President Hugo Chavez’s government for their help. He did not give any more details about the operation.
