By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The accused chief of Colombia’s Clan del Golfo drug trafficking group is anticipated to look in a U.S. courtroom on Thursday after being extradited on cocaine and weapons costs, the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace in Brooklyn stated.

Dairo Antonio Usuga, generally known as Otoniel, was captured by Colombian armed forces final October within the greatest blow to drug trafficking within the Andean nation for the reason that loss of life of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar in 1993. Otoniel, 50, was extradited to the USA on Wednesday night.

Colombian authorities have stated Otoniel trafficked between 180 and 200 tonnes of cocaine a yr with the Clan del Golfo and was liable for the deaths of a whole lot of members of the South American nation’s safety forces.

Otoniel faces three prison costs in the USA together with conspiring to fabricate and distribute cocaine. He’s anticipated to be learn the costs at an arraignment in federal courtroom in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace stated.

A lawyer for Otoniel didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Daniel Rendon Herrera, an Otoniel affiliate generally known as Don Mario, pleaded responsible in a U.S. courtroom final November to costs of delivery cocaine to U.S. territory and shopping for weapons for paramilitary figures he commanded. He faces a compulsory minimal sentence of 20 years in jail.

Colombian President Ivan Duque on Wednesday stated Otoniel’s extradition “reveals no person is above the Colombian state.” Extradition to the USA, Bogota’s high ally, is likely one of the fundamental weapons in Colombia’s arsenal for preventing drug trafficking.