A prominent drug lord from Colombia, who had been targeted by investigators in the United States, has been killed. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed the news on Friday.
Victor Ramon Navarro-Cerrano was the ringleader of a massive cocaine operation that spanned North America and Europe. Colombian intelligence forces are said to have been responsible for his death.
Prior to his death a $5 million reward was posted for information leading to his eventual arrest and conviction.
President Santos announced the death on Twitter.
In his Tweets, Santos congratulated the Colombian intelligence forces on their success. He went on to say that those involved in the drug trade will eventually be captured or killed.
The President referred to Navarro-Cerrano as “Megateo,” which was one of the drug lord’s nicknames.
However, Santos did not reveal the details of the drug lord’s death.
Navarro-Cerrano was 39 years old and the leader of a major cocaine enterprise that was known as Librado Mora Toro Front of the El Ejercito Popular de Liberacion, or EPL.
The organization grew coca plants, operated cocaine production labs, and sold extremely large amounts of the drug to the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, and Europe. The leaders of the gang had been sought by officials of the State Department of the United States.
According to authorities from the United States, Navarro-Cerrano also operated networks of money laundering that were responsible for relocating millions of dollars to Colombia.
The State Department of the United States wrote on their website, “Navarro-Cerrano uses his money and influence to corrupt officials in Colombia and even utilizes corrupt police officials to escort his cocaine shipments and investigate his rivals.”
In August of 2011, Navarro-Cerrano faced an indictment in Florida, and he was designated as a foreign drug kingpin by President Barack Obama under the Kingpin Act. The act denies known drug traffickers from accessing the financial system of the United States.
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