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Reuters

The leader of a prominent Colombian criminal group who pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking charges was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 years in prison by a judge in Brooklyn who called him “more prolific” than the late kingpin Pablo Escobar.
In sentencing Dairo Antonio Usuga David, better known as Otoniel, US District Judge Dora Irizarry called the nearly 100,000kg of cocaine he shipped to the United States while leading the Clan del Golfo cartel “extraordinary”.
She dismissed a defence claim that prosecutors engaged in “hyperbole” by likening Otoniel, 51, to Escobar, the former Medellin cartel leader who was killed in 1993 in a joint US-Colombia operation.
“There have been many drug dealers who were more prolific than Pablo Escobar, including your client,” Irizarry told Otoniel’s lawyers.

The 45-year sentence had been requested by the US Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn.
Otoniel was arrested by Colombian armed forces near the South American country’s border with Panama in October 2021.
Singapore executes man for drug trafficking, its 5th hanging this year
He was extradited to the United States in May 2022, and pleaded guilty the following January.
Before being sentenced, Otoniel apologised in court to his victims, and to the US and Colombian governments.
Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict among leftist rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, criminal groups and the government.
“To the people and to the youth of Colombia, I advise them and warn them not to take the path that I have taken,” Otoniel said through a Spanish interpreter.
Lawyers for Otoniel had sought a prison term of no more than 25 years, pointing to his acceptance of responsibility, and to an impoverished childhood when he was forced to fight as a child soldier.
But the judge said “billions” of people had been born into similar situations and did not become cartel leaders.
Hong Kong police arrest man, seize 1.1kg haul of crack cocaine at village house
“I grew up in the projects of the South Bronx,” she said. “I know all too well what it’s like to be raised in that environment where, day to day, people are shooting each other in the street, people are dying in the street.”
Otoniel had faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years.
Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan, has more than 1,000 armed men, primarily former members of right-wing paramilitary groups.
Otoniel became its leader following stints as a left-wing guerilla and later as a paramilitary.


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Drugs

Colombian drug lord compared to Pablo Escobar sentenced to 45 years in US prison

Dairo Antonio Usuga David, better known as Otoniel. File photo: TNS

Late drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Singapore executes man for trafficking heroin, its 5th hanging this year

People protest against the death penalty in Singapore. File photo: AFP

Illegal drugs seized at Hong Kong airport surged by 80 per cent to 2.3 tonnes worth HK$970 million in first half of year, customs says

Latest figures show 2,298kg of narcotics were confiscated at the airport between January and June in 2023. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Customs displays pillows soaked with suspected methamphetamine. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Superintendent Cheung Ka-chung of customs’ air cargo group (left), and Superintendent Sky Fung of customs’ drug investigation bureau attend a press conference on drugs seized at the Hong Kong airport. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong police arrest man, seize HK$1.5 million haul of crack cocaine at village house suspected of being used as drugs factory

Police picked up the suspect and seized crack cocaine in Tai Po on Sunday. Photo: SCMP

Drugmaking equipment was among the evidence gathered by police. Photo: SCMP 

New Zealand seizes 713kg of methamphetamine hidden in maple syrup

New Zealand police estimate the drugs would have caused about US$486 million worth of social harm. Photo: New Zealand Herald

A total of 713kg of methamphetamine was hidden in maple syrup bottles shipped from Canada to New Zealand. Photo: New Zealand Police 

Massive 700kg ‘ice’ haul spotlights Japanese yakuza links with Chinese gangsters

Japanese police have arrested seven Chinese nationals over a 700kg haul of crystal methamphetamine. Photo: Shutterstock

Yakuza gang members during the Sanja Matsuri Festival. Photo: Shutterstock

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Dairo Antonio Usuga David was the leader of Colombia’s largest narco-trafficking gang, the Clan del Golfo, or Gulf Clan
Prosecutors described him as the most significant Colombian narcotics trafficker since Pablo Escobar


Cartel leader Dairo Antonio Usuga David was the most wanted person in Colombia until he was arrested in October 2021 in the country’s northwest after a massive military operation.


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