Colombian Drug Lord Fabio Ochoa Returns Home

Colombian drug lord Fabio Ochoa has been deported back to Colombia after completing 25 years of a 30-year sentence in the United States. Ochoa, a key figure in the infamous Medellin cartel, arrived at Bogota's El Dorado airport, greeted by immigration officials but not by police, indicating a lack of pending cases in Colombian courts. Colombia's national immigration agency stated he should enter "without any problems" once immigration checks are completed.

Ochoa, 67, and his brothers were major players in the cocaine boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, even making the Forbes billionaire list in 1987. He ran a cocaine distribution hub in Miami under the leadership of Pablo Escobar, who was killed by authorities in 1993. In the 1980s, Ochoa was implicated in the murder of American informant Barry Seal, an incident that highlighted his connections to organized crime.

Despite fading from the public eye as Mexican cartels grew prominent, Ochoa's legacy endures. His life has been dramatized in the Netflix series Griselda and Narcos, depicting his role in the drug trade. Richard Gregorie, a former US prosecutor involved in Ochoa's conviction, remarked on his expected return to Colombia, noting, "He won't be retiring a poor man, that's for sure," due to unseized drug proceeds. (This story was generated by Newser's AI chatbot. Source: the AP)