One of Colombia’s most wanted fugitives has been killed by police, the country’s president has announced.<\/b><\/p>\n
Juan Castro, better known as Matamba, had escaped from La Picota maximum-security jail in the capital, Bogot\u00e1, in March.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage showed him calmly walking out of his cell dressed in the uniform of a prison guard.<\/p>\n
President Iv\u00e1n Duque said that Matamba had been “neutralised” in the city of Bol\u00edvar, in northern Colombia.<\/p>\n
But he did not provide any more details about the police operation in which the fugitive gang leader was killed.<\/p>\n
Matamba, who led an off-shoot of the Gulf Clan cartel, was expected to be extradited to the US on charges of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
He had been accused of running up to 20% of the cocaine shipments from Nari\u00f1o province, in Colombia’s south-west.<\/p>\n
His gang, called Cordillera Sur, is thought to have paid off a number of high-ranking members of the Colombian military.<\/p>\n
Those on the gang’s payroll reportedly tipped the gang off about impending raids and in some cases targeted their rivals.<\/p>\n
Matamba’s disappearance from prison led some to speculate that he may have been killed in order to prevent him from revealing who in the military the gang had allegedly bribed.<\/p>\n
Others argued that the nature of his escape suggested that a number of guards must have been in on his plan.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage showed him calmly walking out through a door which had been left ajar.<\/p>\n
\n? En los videos se aprecia al poderoso narcotraficante salir por una reja que le deja abierta un inspector de apellido Jim\u00e9nez \u25ba https:\/\/t.co\/66DoBnmIKk<\/a><\/p>\n
?: cortes\u00eda. pic.twitter.com\/2iTgOgZYgQ<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) March 20, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n