Colombian Police Arrest Leader Of Clan Del Golfo Drug Gang - Defense Minister

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 18, 2022 | 11:40 AM

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2022) Colombian military and police have arrested one of the bosses of the Clan del Golfo drug gang (the Gulf Clan, also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia), Fausto Emilio Palacios Arteaga, alias Maldito Patrik, Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano Aponte said on Monday.

"Maldito Patrik, the leader of the Clan del Golfo, has been apprehended. He is one of the most wanted criminals in Sucre," Molano said on Twitter.

Palacios joined the Clan del Golfo in 2012 and was sent to the gang's substructure Manuel Jose Gaitan in the municipality of Santiago de Tolu in the Department of Sucre in 2016, according to the country's naval forces.

In 2021, he was appointed the leader of the substructure's armed group. A bounty of 25 million Colombian pesos ($6,600) was put on the information about his whereabouts.

Before a recent crackdown, the Clan del Golfo was a group of some 1,500 criminals, most of whom were demobilized far-right military officers. The clan was led by Dario Antonio Usuga David, alias Otoniel, the most wanted criminal in Colombia for over five years. Usuga was apprehended on October 23 in the course of a military operation in the Department of Antioquia, northwest Colombia.