ORLANDO, Fla. – A Colombian “drug lord” was taken into custody this month over his alleged connection to 29 murders and other related crimes, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In a release, ICE officials described the drug lord — Guillermo Perez Alzate — as a “confessed murderer and criminal alien.”
Recommended Videos
“Perez is a former paramilitary leader of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a transnational criminal organization that uses drugs to finance its illegal activities,” the release reads.
According to ICE, Perez was extradited to the U.S. in 2008 and arrested to face drug smuggling charges alongside 13 other alleged members of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.
Perez himself was sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiracy to import and traffic cocaine in Florida, and during his trial, he admitted to a judge that he murdered 29 people, investigators added.
He was again arrested by correctional officers in Georgia in 2009 for conspiracy to import cocaine into the U.S., and an immigration judge in Orlando ordered him to be removed from the country, though the decision was ultimately deferred, ICE noted.
“He was ordered deported in 2017, so he’ll face justice for his alleged crimes against the people of Colombia,” ICE officials wrote.