Colombian Police Kill Escobar’s Chief Hit Man
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BOGOTA, Colombia — Police shot and killed cocaine king Pablo Escobar’s top hit man Friday, shortly after one of Escobar’s lawyers said the fugitive Medellin cartel chief was preparing to surrender peacefully.
Police acting on a tip-off stormed an office building in downtown Medellin and killed Mario Castano Molina, allegedly after he resisted arrest.
Colombian authorities had offered a reward of $133,000 for information leading to the arrest of Castano, who was accused of masterminding a campaign of terror in Bogota and Medellin.
Police say Escobar, who fled a lavish prison near Medellin last July, ordered the attacks to pressure officials into negotiating favorable terms for a surrender.
Castano’s death came hours after one of Escobar’s lawyers said that “the final touches” were being put to arrangements for the drug lord to turn himself in.
Diplomats, however, noted that Colombia’s police are Escobar’s bitterest foes and have no interest in seeing him surrender peacefully.
“The police want to kill him,” one European diplomat said.
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