According to a source within the Colombian National Police, alleged Colombian narco-traffickers Dairo Usuga, better known by the pseudonym “Otoniel,” was extradited to the United States on Wednesday to face drug trafficking accusations. In federal court in New York City on Thursday, he pled not guilty to allegations of engaging in a worldwide cocaine manufacture and trafficking conspiracy, among other things.

Usuga is commonly regarded as the leader of the “Clan del Golfo,” a formidable drug gang in charge of cocaine shipments between Mexico and the United States. He is being imprisoned at New York City’s Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.

According to the indictment, Usuga was charged with leading a continuing criminal enterprise from June 2003 to October 2021, as well as participating in an international conspiracy to manufacture and distribute cocaine with the knowledge and intent that the narcotics would be illegally imported into the United States.

Colombian officials apprehended Usuga in a remote part of Antioquia province’s northern Uraba district in October, a feat President Iván Duque hailed as “the largest arrest of a narco-trafficker by Colombian police since the days of Pablo Escobar.” According to the Colombian Attorney General’s office, the suspected cartel boss was facing at least 122 accusations o  drug trafficking, criminal association, homicide, and money laundering at the time of his arrest.

After the Colombian State Council refused a request by many victims of Usuga’s alleged crimes who wanted to see him punished in Colombian court, his extradition was allowed by presidential order. Previously, the State Department offered up to $5 million in exchange for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

According to the State Department, the so-called Clan del Golfo is made up of former terrorists who “employ violence and intimidation to dominate narcotics trafficking routes, cocaine processing facilities, speedboat departure sites, and covert landing strips.” According to Colombia’s Ombudsman Carlos Camargo, at least one person was slain on Thursday in Cereté, northern Colombia, amid an upsurge of violence in numerous Colombian provinces.

The escalation comes after a strong drug gang imposed an armed curfew in revenge for Dairo Usuga, better known as “Otoniel,” being extradited to the United States, he added.

Due to Duque’s decision to extradite Usuga, flyers supposedly from the Clan del Golfo began spreading on Colombian social media early Thursday, urging inhabitants in numerous departments in northwestern Colombia to stay at home and cease all economic activity for four days.