Assets worth more than $5 million belonging to a now-incarcerated drug trafficker were appropriated by a Colombian government agency on Monday, local media reported.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Interpol (DIJIN), an organisation working in conjunction with the national police and Inspector General’s office, seized 14 homes and seven cars from John Eduarth Monje, the former mayor of Milan, a town in the southern state of Caqueta.
Monje was arrested in 2013 during a narcotics raid and charged for ties to the armed neo-paramilitary group, “Los Urubeños.” The assets are worth an estimated $5,250,000 in total.
Monje is currently wanted for extradition by the US state of Texas due to his alleged involvement in a powerful drug trafficking organization linked to the smuggling of at least 100 tons of cocaine from Latin America into the US.
Monje’s brother, Juan Carlos, alias “El Monje,” was a spokesman for the now-disbanded AUC paramilitary umbrella group before creating his own criminal gang, “Las Aguilas Negras.” El Monje was assassinated in 2007.
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There is no word as of yet as to whether Monje will be extradited for trial in the United States.