An infamous Colombian drug lord, considered perhaps the most powerful cocaine trafficker in the country, was captured Tuesday in Venezuela, Colombia announced Wednesday.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said Daniel Barrera, known as “El Loco Barrera,” was arrested in Venezuela’s San Cristobal with the aid of U.S. and British intelligence services.
Santos described Barrera as “one of the last great drug lords” who is “perhaps the most wanted drug lord in recent times” in Colombia and stressed his arrest is “a very important step towards better security,” according to a statement from his office.
Barrera also had alliances with both the right-wing paramilitaries and the Marxist terrorist organization FARC to traffic cocaine, Santos said.
Barrera had been operating in Venezuela for the past eight months and ran his trafficking business while moving between towns near the Colombian border, the Colombia Reports website said, citing the country’s defense minister.
Barrera went to great lengths to conceal his identity and dealings, not owning a private telephone or using any other forms of communication other than public payphones. He also burned his own hands to make it impossible for authorities to detect his fingerprints, the report said.
The U.S. offered a $5 million reward for his capture while Colombia added $2.7 million to that, the BBC reported.
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