Colombia will extradite former drug lord “El Loco Barrera” to the United States after Venezuela decides to either extradite or deport the kingpin, said Colombia’s chief prosecutor Thursday.
According to Prosecutor General Eduardo Montealegre, a New York court issued the request of extradition for Daniel Barrera to face charges of drug trafficking and money laundering.
Though the extradition request has been approved by his native Colombia the final decision rests in the hands of the Venezuelan authorities, who in turn requested to extradite the kingpin to Colombia.
Montealegre told press that “this morning there was a formal extradition request, requested by the United States and formalized and notarized by the Colombian Foreign Ministry. Therefore, the Prosecutor General’s Office has waged an arrest warrant for extradition against Daniel Barrera.”
“The information was sent to the Colombian state for a warrant issued by a court in New York in April 2010, for the inflow of many kilos of cocaine to the United States and also for conspiracy and money laundering,” said the chief prosecutor.
Montealegre added that, “we are awaiting a decision of the Venezuelan state whether he is sent to Colombia, in the course of this afternoon or tomorrow (Friday), Venezuela will report a diplomatic rule on the issue so that we have a clear idea of what paths to follow.”
El Loco Barrera, named as “the last of the great capos,” by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, was arrested in a Venezuelan town little more than 10 miles from the Colombian border on Tuesday after being involved in drug trafficking for more than 20 years.