One of the world’s most wanted drug lords dubbed the Cat for his wily evasion of justice has been seized by police in Colombia.

Ecuadorian national Wilder Emilio Sanchez Farfan – also known as ‘Gato’, Spanish for ‘cat’ – was arrested in Pasto, Colombian officials have revealed.

It is likely he will be extradited to the USA, where an arrest warrant for him was issued by the Southern District Court in California for drug trafficking.

Sanchez Farfan is often called the Ecuadorian El Chapo, after Mexico’s Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loera, 65, currently in prison in the US.

Gato’s arrest was confirmed by the Ecuadorian Minister of the Interior, Juan Zapata, who described him as one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the world.

The arrest took place after an 18-month investigation in an operation codenamed Ceres.

The Colombian authorities said: “Coordinated work allows great results: the Colombian police and the Ecuadorian police managed to capture ‘Gato Farfan’, a drug trafficker wanted in the US and the head of a dangerous transnational organisation.”

Local media reported that Gato had ties to several Mexican drug cartels, including the criminal family founded by El Chapo.

Gato and El Chapo are said to have negotiated shipments of cocaine produced in Colombia.

The Ecuadorian is accused of coordinating shipments of drugs to the United States through the main ports of Ecuador and Mexico, in association with the Sinaloa and Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartels, according to the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Interior.

It was also stated that Gato was responsible for a string of prison massacres in Ecuador that left more than 450 prisoners dead.

It is understood police waited for Gato to leave Ecuador because the country does not have an extradition agreement with the USA.