Colombia: Police interrupt Otoniel hearing for fear of 'imminent escape'
Colombian drug trafficker Otoniel shortly after his arrest on October 24, 2021 in Bogota.
PA
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Colombian police interrupted Thursday a hearing of Otoniel, the most powerful drug trafficker in the country arrested at the end of 2021, saying they suspected him of planning his escape.
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According to a statement, the police ordered "
in recent hours the temporary suspension
" of the hearing of
Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias Otoniel
, before the Truth Commission (JEP).
This special jurisdiction investigates the armed conflict in Colombia until the signing of a peace agreement in 2016. The police took this decision because "
irresponsibly, the exact description of the place of detention of this individual has been made public
“, she justified.
"
Human sources and information collected by the intelligence services
(...)
have warned of the plans of the Clan del Golfo
", a group of drug traffickers led by Otoniel, "
to try to organize his escape
", explained the police.
The man is currently detained in Bogota in ultra-secure premises of the criminal police, where these hearings are taking place.
According to a statement from his lawyers, the hearing "
was abruptly interrupted by members of the security forces
".
Indicted by American justice
Colombia's most wanted drug trafficker, the leader of the Clan del Golfo was
arrested on October 23 in northwestern Colombia
during a military operation.
Indicted by the American courts in 2009, he is the subject of extradition proceedings before the courts of New York and Miami.
In the wake of his arrest, this extradition had been announced as rapid by the Colombian authorities, but it has since dragged on.
De la capture o negociación con alias "Otoniel" que lo saca de operaciones delincuenciales, y por ello hay que felicitar a quienes lo lograron, quedan interrogantes que van más allá de su entrega o captura.
https://t.co/Tg1otZrFfL
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) October 25, 2021
The drug baron has already been heard several times by the JEP;
closed-door hearings in which he claimed to have engineered his surrender, according to his lawyers.
This version contradicts the official version of his arrest, presented by the authorities as the result of a vast and successful military operation.
Otoniel also claimed, according to the Colombian press, that the army would continue to work in complicity with far-right paramilitary groups in certain regions of the country.
The informamos a Colombia captured Dairo Antonio Úsuga, alias 'Otoniel', máximo cabecilla del Clan del Golfo, uno de los criminales más buscados por la justice a nivel nacional e internacional.
pic.twitter.com/CHVJasS3Eo
— Iván Duque 🇨🇴 (@IvanDuque) October 23, 2021
The left-wing senator and favorite in the next presidential election Gustavo Petro questioned the version of the police: “
The government does not want Otoniel to speak.
What they did
(...)
is a coup.
A seditious act against the truth
,” he tweeted.
(
With
AFP)
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Colombia
Drug
Justice