Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
This wanted drug trafficker has been arrested in a DEA operation after throwing a luxury party in the town where he was hiding during coronavirus lockdown.
Local media report alleged Colombian drug trafficker and hitman Gustavo Adolfo Alvarez Tellez, alias ‘Tavo’, was captured this Saturday in the municipality of Cerete in the Cordoba Department in northern Colombia.
Reports said that Alvarez Tellez was the leader of the Clan del Golfo drug cartel in the Caribbean region in Colombia and local authorities had offered a bounty of 580 million COP (116,619 GBP) for his arrest.
Police managed to find the suspect after he reportedly threw a luxurious party despite Colombia being in lockdown for coronavirus until 11th May.
Several relatives of Alvarez Tellez and other guests reportedly attended the party and arrived in high-end cars which rose suspicion among local authorities while several bands performed during the gathering as part of the entertainment.
Reports state that the General Attorney’s Office, the Police and the Drug Enforcement Administration form the United States (DEA) coordinated the operation which resulted in the drug trafficker’s arrest.
The Colombian Defence Minister, Carlos Holmes Trujillo, said: “It is a very important capture as he has criminal records that started in 1990 with paramilitary groups of Ramon Isaza, then he led a group of hitmen under the orders of Diego Vecino and Juancho Dique He was the main organiser of narcotrafficking in the Caribbean structure of the Clan del Golfo.”
Local media reported that Gustavo Alvarez was arrested and extradited to the United State in 2011.
The Colombian police said that he had coordinated the export of 120 tonnes of cocaine in two years and then-President, Juan Manuel Santos, listed him as one of the 10 most wanted criminals in Colombia.
Alvarez Tellez’s cooperation with the DEA helped him obtain judicial reductions and a US court sentenced him to just 36 months in prison on the charge of conspiracy to distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine.
Reports state he was released on probation in 2014 and he returned to Colombia where he allegedly engaged in criminal activities again.
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