Julio Enrique Ayala Muñoz, alias “Condor,” the suspected link between two drug cartels, awaits a U.S. extradition request in Bogota after his Thursday arrest, according to the Colombian Nacional Police’s website.
Muñoz is considered to be the main link between the Colombian narco-traffickers, the “Comba” brothers, and the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.
The so-called “Comba” brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna are considered to be among the most powerful druglords in the country and are the heads of the neo-paramilitary group “Los Rastrojos.” Muñoz reported to Jaoquin “Chapo” Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, who is one of the main drug traffickers in Mexico.
Muñoz is the suspected owner of 6.4 tons of cocaine that was seized in Buenaventura, Colombia on December 29, 2010. The shipment was bound for the U.S. with a planned stopover in Guatemala.
The U.S. requested Muñoz’s capture and extradition in May 2009, after he escaped a police raid in which 19 narco-traffickers were arrested.
He was arrested Thursday morning in Cali by members of the Colombian Nacional Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Munoz was immediately transferred to Colombia’s capital where he faces drug charges and extradition to the U.S.