Bogota.- Colombian authorities on Tuesday said it dealt a severe blow to the structure of the drug group Clan Úsuga with the capture of four of its members, AP reports.
Police said the organization headed by Usuga, the country’s most wanted fugitive would be laundering money through "a spiritual and humanitarian front," that is, through religious communities and at least one alleged NGO.
Among the captured figure Martha Cecilia Madrid (la Jefa, the boss), 34, sister of Usuga’s girlfriend, "responsible for transforming the money derived from illicit drug trafficking into luxury properties in exclusive areas of the country and the Dominican Republic," Colombian police said in a statement.
Madrid, the official report says, "had contacts with a representative of a Dominican Protestant church and through millions in donations, which on paper appeared as humanitarian contributions, conditioned it to acquire luxuries, chalets, luxury cars and apartments in the coastal area of ??the Central American country” (DR).
The authorities offered a US$2.0 million reward for information leading to Usuga’s arrest.