Fabio Ochoa, former leader of the Medellín Cartel, returned to Colombia on Monday (23) after serving more than 20 years in a United States prison for crimes of human trafficking, conspiracy and cocaine distribution, reported the Migración Colombia in a post on your X account.
Ochoa, former partner of Pablo Escobar in the Medellín Cartel, arrived in the country on a flight from Miami, accompanied by other deportees, and will be free, with no legal charges pending in Colombia.
Ochoa was captured in 1999, as part of the so-called Operation Millennium, which the police carried out against several drug trafficking leaders and their collaborators. In 2001, he was extradited to the United States and, in 2003, sentenced to 30 years in prison in a court in .
Since December 5, he has been in the custody of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Ochoa received a sentence reduction, which allowed him to return to Colombia, where the Prosecutor’s Office has no active criminal legal proceedings against him.
According to police reports at the time of his capture, Ochoa was accused of shipping approximately 30 tons of cocaine to the United States. The Drug Control Administration (DEA) linked him at the time to the illicit activities of the late Medellín Cartel boss Gaviria.
Upon arrival, Ochoa hugged her daughter, whom she said she hadn’t seen since she was seven.
*With information from Reuters