Cops catch ‘Colombian coke king Crazy Barrera’

Authorities in Colombia, one of the world’s top cocaine producers, had been closing in on Barrera – known as “Crazy Barrera” – in recent weeks, arresting 36 members of his gang and seizing five tonnes of the drug and 21 aircraft.

“Crazy Barrera has been perhaps the most wanted kingpin in recent times,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a televised address.

“He has dedicated 20 years to doing bad things to Colombia and the world, all types of crime, perverse alliances with paramilitaries, with the Farc (rebel group).”

Mr Santos said Barrera was captured in the Venezuelan city of San Cristobal, about 15 miles (24 kms) from the Colombian border. The president said the operation was directed from Washington by a Colombian police general.

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The government says Barrera’s smuggling ring was capable of sending 10 tonnes of cocaine a month to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, the most powerful organised crime gang in the Americas.

He had a $5m bounty on his head from the United States and $2.7m from the Colombian government.

President Santos thanked US and British intelligence agencies as well as Venezuela President Hugo Chavez‘s government for their help. He did not give any more details about the operation. Previously, Channel 4 News has heard evidence from an ex-agent of MI6’s involvement in the Colombian drugs war operations in the south American state.

Drug-funded criminal gangs composed of members of former right-wing paramilitary groups and old cartels have also become a big security threat for the nation of 46 million people.

While bloodshed from Colombia’s long guerrilla and drug wars has dropped since a US-backed offensive began more than a decade ago, bombings, murders and combat continue, mainly in border areas.

However the decline in violence has attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment, mainly in oil and mining, which has boosted the country’s crude oil and coal output to historic highs.