Colombia's most wanted drug lord was arrested in a large-scale joint operation by the police, air force and army.

The 50-year-old Dairo Antonio Úsuga alias Otoniel, head of the so-called golf clan, was arrested in the Uraba region in the north-west of the country, said President Ivan Duque on Saturday evening.

This is the "heaviest blow to drug trafficking in our country in this century".

He compared the arrest of "Otoniel" with the action that led to the 1993 killing of drug lord Pablo Escobar.

"Otoniel was the most feared drug lord in the world, a murderer of police officers, soldiers and local activists," Duque said at his press conference in Bogota.

His arrest means "probably the end of the golf clan".

At the same time, Duque called on the remaining members of the clan either to surrender or to feel “the full weight of the law”.

The US offered a $ 5 million reward for the capture of Úsuga.

In addition to drug trafficking, he is also accused of murder, extortion and kidnapping.

His golf clan is believed to be responsible for smuggling tons of drugs, especially cocaine, into Central and North America.