Former Medellin cartel boss Fabio Ochoa deported to Colombia, released upon arrival

NEWS WIRES

23 December 2024 at 6:51 pm·1-min read

Fabio Ochoa, a former Medellin Cartel kingpin, talks to the media at El Dorado International Airport after being deported from the US, Bogota, December 23, 2024.

Fabio Ochoa, once a top operator in Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel, was deported to Colombia after serving 25 years of a 30-year sentence in the US. He was released immediately upon arrival in Bogota, with Colombian authorities confirming he faces no pending charges.

One of Colombia’s legendary drug lords and a key operator of the Medellin cartel has been deported back to the South American country, after serving 25 years of a 30-year prison sentence in the United States.

A short while later, Fabio Ochoa was again a free man.

Ochoa arrived in Bogota’s El Dorado airport on a deportation flight on Monday, wearing a grey sweatshirt and carrying his personal belongings in a plastic bag. After stepping out of the plane, the former cartel boss was met by immigration officials in bullet proof vests. There were no police on site to detain him.

Colombia’s national immigration agency promptly posted a brief statement on the social media platform X, saying Ochoa was “freed so that he could join his family” after immigration officials took his fingerprints and confirmed through a database that he is not wanted by Colombian authorities.

Ochoa, 67, and his older brothers amassed a fortune when cocaine started flooding the U.S. in the late 1970s and early 1980s, according to U.S. authorities, to the point that in 1987 they were included in the Forbes Magazine’s list of billionaires.

“He won’t be retiring a poor man, that’s for sure,” Gregorie told The Associated Press earlier this month.

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