Colombian paramilitary leader killed in raid

Dec 29, 2010, 17:02 GMT

Bogota - Colombian police killed the drug lord and paramilitary leader Pedro Oliverio Guerrero, known as 'Cuchillo,' authorities confirmed Wednesday.

Cuchillo was the one of the three most wanted criminals in the country and the leader of a 1,000-strong paramilitary group.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that Cuchillo was killed on Christmas Day in the central Colombian province of Meta, in a rural area which was struck by police from the air and on land.

'The murderer of murderers has fallen. This bandit had a long record of crime in all its variants. There were more than 15 arrest warrants against him, he is blamed for more than 3,000 deaths,' Santos told a press conference.

The drug lord's lieutenant, Harold Rojas, was arrested among other suspects, and Cuchillo's body was found later some 200 metres away from that site. Two police officers died in the operation.

He added that a reward would be paid to the people who tipped off police about Cuchillo. Colombian authorities had promised a reward of 2.6 million dollars for information leading to the drug lord's arrest.

Colombia's decades-long civil war is inextricably entwined with the illicit trade in cocaine and other drugs.

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