Colombian police have captured a man wanted for extradition by the United States on charges of drug trafficking, local media reported on Sunday.
According to local media outlets, Matthew Ian Ferguson, alias “Matlock,” a Bahmian citizen wanted by a District Court in Florida for reportedly recruiting pilots for the notorious Colombian drug lord Daniel “El Loco” Barrera, was captured in the northern Colombian department of Cordoba.
“The capture of this individual is the product of one year of investigation coordinated between the [Colombian] Prosecutor General’s office and the [United States’] Drug Enforcement Agency. This man was used by Daniel Barrea…to recruit pilots who flew to Central America carrying a cargo of between 500 and 1000 kilograms of cocaine, which would eventually end up in the hands of the Sinloa and Los Zetas cartels,” said the director of Colombia’s anti-narcotics police squad, General Luis Perez Alvaran.
Ferguson’s pilots would allegedly fly to the Venezuelan states of Apure and Maracaibo, before flying the illicit cargo to Honduras. Upon entering the hands of the Mexican drugs cartels, the cocaine would then be funnelled through to the United States.
Ferguson’s arrest follows the September apprehension of Barrea, who was captured in Venezuela in an operation that involved authorities from four different countries.
Ferguson had reportedly been living in Colombia for the last 20 years.