BOGOTÁ (AP) — Colombian authorities confirmed on Wednesday that a top leader of the Clan del Golfo cartel was found dead after top boss Dairo Antonio Úsuga David was captured and extradited to the United States. under the pseudonym “Otoniel”. ”.
Police said the body was found near Dabeiba in the northeast of the country and later identified as Wilmer Antonio Giraldo Quiroz, alias “Siopas”, for whom authorities offered a reward of up to at 5,000 million pesos, or about one million dollars.
Colonel Óscar Cortés Dueñas, commander of the Urabá Police Department, explained that the identification of the body was carried out through fingerprints and biometrics.
“We are continuing throughout the investigation to identify the motives for the homicide,” Cortés said in a video released to the press.
Alias ”Siopas” committed crimes for 12 years in the Clan del Golfo – also known as the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia – and currently controls criminal actions in the Colombian Pacific, added the commander of the police.
The Clan del Golfo is Colombia’s most feared drug trafficking group which continues to operate after the alias ‘Otoniel’ was extradited in 2022, although it has faced internal divisions under command other leaders such as the alias “Siopas”, Jobanís de Jesús Ávila Villadiego, alias “Chiquito Malo”, and José Gonzalo Sánchez, alias “Gonzalito”.