Colombia’s notorious drug lord, Henry de Jesus Lopez, was arrested in a suburb of Buenos Aires, after a months-long chase led by Colombian police through South America.
The Colombian drug lord known as Mi Sangre, or My Blood, is thought to be the leader of the Urabenos gang, which dictates much of the drug trade in northern Colombia, BBC reports .
Lopez posed as a Venezuelan businessman and carried fake passports from five different countries. He is thought to have shipped tons of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, via Central America, the Associated Press reports.
The Colombian drug lord went through the ranks of right-wing paramilitary group which was also involved in highly organized drug trafficking organizations, General Jose Roberto Leon, the national police director in Bogota said.
Lopez is thought to be responsible for hundreds of deaths and is considered extremely dangerous.
Colombian authorities and DEA agents have joined forces and are systematically capturing a number of the country’s drug lords abroad, going down the chain of command through organized crime rings.
According to US law enforcement, Lopez was the last of the drug lords from the top tier to capture.
About a year ago, Lopez arrived in Argentina with his wife and child. They settled into a house in the wealthy community Nordelta.
But the family did not stay there long and instead moved from house to house, under different names with at least eight bodyguards accompanying them at all times.
A group of Colombian judicial police who were staying in Argentina, aided by US Drug Enforcement Administration, and a small group of Argentine officials finally caught up with Lopez. A Colombian informant was key to Lopez’s arrest and received a $660,000 reward and is being protected.
Investigations continue because it is believed that while Lopez was in Argentina, he was smuggling drugs into and out of the country.
If Lopez is expelled from Argentina to Colombia, he would then be extradited to the United States, where scores of Colombian drug lords are housed.
