Colombian authorities have captured the country’s biggest drug lord. Daniel Rendon Herrera, known as “Don Mario”, was arrested today near the Panamanian border, after a 2 million dollar bounty was offered for his capture (video above of this first images of the capture).

Don Mario was no small fry. The BBC gives a rundown of some of the highlights of Rendon’s “career” and how he eluded authorities:

Once a paramilitary in a branch of the now-demobilised United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), Daniel Rendon had refused to surrender as part of a peace deal.

Instead he used paramilitary networks to build up a personal army of up to 1,000 heavily-armed fighters, also striking a deal with left-wing Farc rebels, the BBC’s Jeremy McDermott reports from the capital, Bogota.
Authorities had been tracking the 43-year-old for months, but he had always managed to stay one step ahead of them until now, he says.

Rendon reportedly has exported literally tons of cocaine to Mexico, which has in turn made its way around the globe. According to the UK’s Telegraph, little is known about Rendon, who has successfully eluded media for years.

Via / BBC News and Telegraph