Video: Drug kingpin escapes prison in Colombia

A drug kingpin easily escaped from a high-security prison in Colombia’s Bogotá, showed video footage captured on CCTV.

The drug kingpin, awaiting extradition to the United States, easily walked through an open cell door.

Juan Castro, one of the drug cartel Gulf Clan’s leaders, escaped last Friday. Accused of handling about 20 per cent of the cocaine shipments from Colombia’s southwest region, Castro had been imprisoned since May 2021.

CCTV video released by Colombia’s prison service shows the open cell door as Castro easily walks out. A dog notices the movement and comes out of a door inside the cell to check. In another clip, Castro, who is also known by his alias “Matamba”, is seen passing through a hall dressed in a guard’s uniform. No one else is seen in the clips.

🔴 En los videos se aprecia al poderoso narcotraficante salir por una reja que le deja abierta un inspector de apellido Jiménez ► https://t.co/66DoBnmIKk

📹: cortesía. pic.twitter.com/2iTgOgZYgQ

— EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) March 20, 2022

Following the escape of drug kingpin from the jail, President of Colombia Iván Duque announced a reform of the jail system, the BBC quoted as saying.

This was not his first attempt at fleeing the prison. He was recaptured twice and in 2018, he even faked his own death as part of his plan to not serve the remaining sentence, the Daily Mail reported. Later, he became a high ranking leader of Gulf Clan in Nariño and narcotics investigators found out about his new identity in 2019.

He was caught last year from a luxury apartment in Floridablanca city during his birthday celebration.