NEW YORK: Dairo Antonio Usuga, one of Colombia’s most notorious drug lords, was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Tuesday by a US federal judge.

Usuga, 51, who pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking charges earlier this year, was the leader of Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking gang, the Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan.

Known as “Otoniel,” Usuga was extradited to the United States last year.

Usuga pleaded guilty in January to running a criminal enterprise and narcotics smuggling and agreed to pay $216 million in forfeiture. He faced a mandatory minimum term of 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors described Usuga as the “most violent and significant Colombian narcotics trafficker since Pablo Escobar” and accused him and the Gulf Clan of illegally bringing at least 73 tons of cocaine into the United States between 2003 and 2012.

Usuga was the most wanted person in Colombia until he was arrested in October 2021 in the country’s northwest after a massive military operation.

According to the US Justice Department, the Gulf Clan has as many as 6,000 members and is one of the world’s largest distributors of cocaine.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2023