« Spiegel » announces the release of Carlos Lehder, former right arm of Pablo Escobar

According to « Spiegel » Carlos Lehder, former right-hand man of Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, was extradited Tuesday from the United States, where he served a long prison sentence, to Germany, the weekly said.

He was extradited Tuesday from New York to Frankfurt on a scheduled flight, according to the German weekly. When contacted by AFP, the German interior and foreign affairs departments did not follow up.

Carlos Lehder, was one of the leaders of the famous Medellin cartel, led by Escobar, which brought tons of Colombian cocaine into the United States in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nicknamed « Crazy Charly » at the time when he directed the cartel and whose father was German, has, according to information from « Spiegel », a German provisional passport. He was handed over to the German authorities when he got off the plane.

He was arrested in 1987 in Colombia and extradited to the United States where he was sentenced to 134 years in prison. He eventually cooperated with the authorities as part of a witness protection program and testified at the trial of Panamanian General Manuel Noriega. His sentence had thus been reduced.

Carlos Lehder, known for his brutality, is particularly considered to be the inventor of « cocaine jets », a trade that was carried out on small planes to deliver drugs to Florida, in the southeast of the United States.

In Germany, the ex-trafficker should be taken care of, by a charitable organization. The extradition of Lehder, whose health would be fragile, would be the fruit of a diplomatic agreement with the United States and Colombia, which has long asked Washington for his extradition.

The Medellin cartel controlled up to 80% of the world cocaine trade and made the fortune of its leaders, at the height of its power, in particular Escobar, shot dead by the Colombian police in 1993.

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Gabriel MIHAI

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