The "legendary drug boss" is released from the American prison - he is deported to Colombia, where he will be free

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 in prison in the United States.

According to foreign media, Telegraph reports, Fabio Ochoa arrived at Bogota's El Dorado airport on a deportation flight on Monday, wearing a gray sweatshirt and carrying his personal belongings in a plastic bag.

After stepping off the plane, the former cartel boss was met by immigration officials wearing bulletproof vests.

Colombia's national immigration agency immediately posted a brief statement on social media platform X, saying Ochoa had been "released so he could be reunited with his family" after immigration officials took his fingerprints and confirmed through a database that he is not wanted by the Colombian authorities.

«Fabio Ochoa», «Cartel de Medellín» and «Migración Colombia», because the former Colombian drug trafficker and founder of the Cartel de Medellín, Fabio Ochoa Vásquez, 67 years old, arrived in Bogotá, then he has to pay more than 20 years in prison in the EU.
Migración Colombia received it.
I was liberated.
🛬📢 pic.twitter.com/sLoRVb4jHj

— ¡Es tendencia en Colombia 🇨🇴! (@TendenciaEnX) December 23, 2024

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

Living in Miami, Ochoa ran a distribution center for the cocaine cartel once headed by Pablo Escobar.

Escobar died in a shootout with authorities in Medellín in 1993.

Along with his two older brothers, Juan David and Jorge Luis, Ochoa surrendered to Colombian authorities in the early 1990s under a deal in which they avoided extradition to the US.

#InVideo "Se acabó esta pesadilla", assured Fabio Ochoa Vásquez to his arrival at the airport El Dorado de Bogotá, y agregó que no contempla ser gestor de paz: "No he pensado en eso, soy un hombre de paz, pero no lo he considerado" . pic.twitter.com/b1wCDS6DLP

- BluRadio Colombia (@BluRadioCo) December 23, 2024

The three brothers were released from prison in 1996, but Ochoa was arrested again three years later for drug trafficking and extradited to the US in 2001.

He was the only suspect in that group to choose to go to trial, resulting in his conviction and a 30-year sentence.

The other defendants received much lighter prison sentences because most of them cooperated with the government. /Telegraph/