Recorded confessions made by the leader of the infamous drug gang Clan del Golfo, which until his arrest in October last year was Colombia’s most wanted drug lord, have been stolen.
The footage of former guerrilla fighter Dairo Antonio Úsuga, also known as Otoniel, was captured on Wednesday by a member of the Truth Commission. This agency is investigating a decades-long conflict between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that ended with a peace agreement concluded in 2016.
The commission reported that on Feb. 18, “unidentified persons entered the investigator’s home at night,” it said in a statement. “In the incident, the digital recorders used in the interview and a computer were stolen.”
The commission had already stressed on Thursday the need to have ‘guarantees’ that Otoniel’s testimonies will be recorded ‘in confidence’, after several media reported that police officers were present during the interrogations. Police interrupted a hearing with Otoniel on Thursday, arguing that he intended to escape. The Truth Commission also asked the authorities and the international community, including the United Nations, for conditions to continue the investigation “without harassment.”
suga, 50, was arrested in the jungle in October during a joint police-army operation. The government of conservative President Iván Duque wants to extradite the drug lord to the United States, where he is wanted for drug trafficking. Otoniel has been convicted in Colombia of drug trafficking, murder, terrorism, recruitment of minors and kidnapping. He led the Clan del Golfo, Colombia’s largest drug gang, which exports about 300 tons of cocaine annually, according to official data.
Colombia signed a pact with the FARC guerrilla group in 2016 to end more than half a century of armed conflict. But in recent months, violence has increased as a result of fighting with and between dissident guerrillas, the ELN rebel group, paramilitary forces and drug cartels.
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