The fugitive, identified locally as Christopher Neil, hung his head as he was lined up between armed cops after being dragged out of his car in Pablo Escobar’s former stronghold of Medellin, handcuffed and taken into custody
Police arrest Christopher Neil in Medellín on drug charges
Police in Colombia arrested a suspected British drug trafficker said to be wanted on an Interpol red notice.
The fugitive, identified locally as Christopher Neil, hung his head as he was lined up between armed cops after being dragged out of his car in Pablo Escobar’s former stronghold of Medellin, handcuffed and taken into custody. A police source suggested he was behind moving more that £2million from the UK to Colombia last year.
Neil, said to use the alias Dips, is said to be a key figure within the Gulf Clan, a prominent Colombian narco-paramilitary group which is one of the South American country’s largest drug cartels. One described him as a “clan co-ordinator for the smuggling of cocaine to the UK.”
Colombian president Gustavo Petro used his official account on X, formerly Twitter, to share a video of the Brit’s arrest. Mr Petro said on social medi: “British drug trafficker Christopher Neils (sic), son-in-law of the man known as ‘Monoleche’ and contact of the Golf Clan for the export of cocaine to the United Kingdom, has been arrested.”
Police made the arrest after tracking his movements around Medellin using drones. Surveillance images published in one Colombian newspaper showed him walking two Pit Bull dogs, wearing jean shorts and an Atletico Nacional football top when he was arrested.
Colombian Police have yet to make any official comment about the arrest on their social media but are expected to do so shortly.
The Brit, whose age has not been released, is now reported to be facing a string of charges including conspiracy to traffic cocaine and heroin, money laundering, and the transfer of criminal property between England and Wales.
Earlier this year a British suspect was pounced on by police at an airport in Colombia when two kilos of cocaine was discovered hidden under a sombrero in a secret section of his suitcase. The unnamed man was attempting to board a flight to Panama when he was stopped by police as he went through an X-ray scanner at Rafael Nunez International Airport.
After the flight, he was due to travel on to Istanbul, Turkey – although his final destination is currently unknown. Two kilos of the illegal drugs were found inside a false bottom of the suitcase and were laid out in front of him by a sign reading ‘COCAINA’ in capital letters. He was asked in English through an interpreter if it was his luggage before it was opened in front of him.
