Former Medellin Cartel Figure Arrested in Police Operation

Former Medellin cartel member Julian Andres Murillo Figueroa was arrested in a joint operation between Colombian and Spanish police on March 7, 2024.

His capture followed months of investigation under the code name ‘Operation Urano’, which had previously led to the arrests of Swedish drug trafficker Jonas Sture Falk and Moroccan drug lord Fikri Amellah.

Medellin cartel remnants

Julian Andres Murillo Figueroa, one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers was arrested in Rionegro, east of Medellin, on March 7, 2024. The 49-year-old drug lord, dubbed ‘El Zar’ (The Tsar) or ‘H-1’, was one of the main cocaine suppliers to the European market. Among his key collaborators were the fallen drug trafficker Jonas Sture Falk, nicknamed the ‘Swedish Pablo Escobar’, the powerful Ndrangheta Mafia and the Mocro Maffia.

For many years, ‘El Zar’ has been shipping tons of cocaine to Western Europe from Colombia and Venezuela. The arrest of Jonas Sture Falk in June 2020 first brought Murillo Figueroa’s name to attention. In 2021, a shipment containing 1.6 tons of cocaine was seized in Spain, heightening police suspicions about El Zar’s activities.

Medellin’s invisible narco

El Zar is known as an ‘invisible narco’, a drug lord who is well-integrated into high social and even political circles as a businessman. He played an intermediary role between European drug cartels and Colombian cocaine distributors, notably the Gulf Clan (Clan del Golfo) coordinating the export of cocaine to Europe between these different players in the business.

As such, his illicit fortune was mostly reinvested in restaurants, private properties and the real estate sector across the country, including his US$1.5 million (6 billion COP) mansion in Rionegro.

Colombia anti-drug operations

El Zar was under an arrest warrant from Spain and was detained through Operation Urano, a joint operation between the Spanish Drug and Organized Crime Unit (Unidad de Droga y Crimen Organizado) and the Colombian Police Intelligence Directorate (Dirección de Inteligencia Policial de Colombia)

Following the capture of the drug trafficker, William René Salamanca, General Director of the Colombian Police, claimed that it represents “a structural blow to organized transnational crime”. According to him, the Colombian police and specialized anti-drug units are currently collaborating with the American DEA to initiate 96 anti-narco operations, including the capture of 90 individuals.

Although the powerful Colombian drug cartels of Medellin and Cali were dismantled in the 1990s, Colombia remains a significant player in the global drug trade. As of 2022, Colombia was responsible for 60% of the global cocaine production, with illegal armed groups such as the ELN and the Gulf Clan controlling most of the international exports.