Legendary drug lord Fabio Ochoa is deported to Colombia and walks free after 20 years in U.S. prisons
CTV
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.
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 on a deportation flight on Monday afternoon, wearing a modest grey sweatshirt and carrying his personal belongings in a plastic bag. After stepping out of the plane, Ochoa was met by immigration officials in bullet proof vests. There were no police on site to detain him.
Immigration officials took his fingerprints and confirmed through a database that Ochoa is not wanted by Colombian authorities. The country's immigration agency said on the social media platform X that Ochoa was "freed so that he could join his family."
"I was framed," Ochoa claimed as reporters at Bogota's El Dorado Airport asked if he regretted his actions.
The former cartel boss smiled as he hugged his daughter, whom he had not seen in seven years, and said he would go to Medellin to live with his family.
"The nightmare is over" said Ochoa, 67.
