Colombia extradites to the US alias "Falcón", one of the alleged leaders of the Clan del Golfo

Colombia extradites to the US the sister of alias "Otoniel" 0:43

(CNN Spanish) --

Colombia extradited this Wednesday Juan José Valencia Zuluaga, alias "Falcón", designated by the authorities as the "drug trafficker with the greatest ascendancy in the Clan del Golfo."

The general director of the police Jorge Luis Vargas indicated that he was the main partner of "Otoniel" for the shipment of cocaine abroad.

The National Police reported in a statement that, according to their calculations, they were sending at least 8 tons of that drug per month from Barranquilla, Cartagena and Santa Marta to the United States, Central America and Europe.

In addition, "Falcón" was supposedly in charge of collecting the finances from the Clan del Golfo's drug trafficking and ordered the collection of taxes from other traffickers who used his routes.

• What is the Gulf Clan?

  History and leaders of the new generation of drug traffickers in Colombia

According to the Prosecutor's Office, there are indications that he would be the owner of a collection of at least 30 high-end vehicles of different brands and a property of about 9,000 square meters located in Antioquia.

Valencia Zuluaga is required by the South Florida District Court and had been captured by the Colombian Police on May 7, 2021 in Medellín.

His lawyer told local media that in the United States he will prove his innocence.

CNN is trying to confirm if he has legal representation in that country.

The Clan del Golfo is a Colombian criminal gang dedicated to drug trafficking and extortion, which according to the Police is one of the "most dangerous organizations of transnational crime."

Its members are present in 107 of the 1,100 municipalities in Colombia, according to the organization Ideas for Peace (Indepaz), including Urabá in Antioquia and Chocó, the south of Córdoba, and urban and semi-urban areas of Bajo Cauca.

All of them to the northwest of the country.

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Colombian authorities hand over alias “Otoniel” to the DEA 2:30

Gulf Clan