Colombia arrests ‘narcotrafficking mogul’

An alleged member of the upper echelon of Colombia’s drug mafia, alias “Alitas,” was captured on a luxurious farm in northwestern Colombia Tuesday.

The alleged kingpin was arrested in Girardot, a small town outside of Medellin, on a farm not unlike the one that police earlier this year arrested “Sebastian,” the former leader of Medellin-based crime syndicate “La Oficina de Envigado” with whom Alitas had struggled with for power control.

Alitas was well known to police due to his extensive drug connections that spanned from the Mexican Sinaloa cartel to the recently captured Colombian capo “El Loco Barrera,” and the feared Colombian neo-paramilitary group “Los Urabeños.”

According to a police report, the captured drug trafficker was an associate of Juan Fernando Alvarez Meyendorff, the last alleged member of the narco super group “Board of Directors” to remain at large. The drug trafficking group has been deemed the Board of Directors of narcotrafficking by Colombian officials.

Alitas’ criminal record goes back to 1999 but the police investigation to capture the drug trafficker began in earnest in November 2011. He has alleged ties to the infamous kingpin Loco Barrera who was captured in September, along with several other notorious capos such as his former boss, 

According to authorities, Alitas’ made an alliance with the Urabeños in order to provide an “armed structure that would permit him to expand his business.” The Urabeños allegedly provided Alitas with a group of 100 men in order to expand his drug routes that were also contended by another criminal gang, “La Oficina del Envigado” and their then leader the recently captured Sebastian.

Police said they have seized a “sophisticated armament” from the drug lord that included sub-machine guns, rifles and armored trucks on the luxurious farm where he was residing.

Alitas who is also wanted by the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges, was captured along with 10 of his escorts.

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