Drug trafficker Eugenio Montoya deported from US arrives in Bogotá and handed over to police
Eugenio Montoya Sánchez, a former member of the North Valley cartel, arrived in Colombia on 11 September after serving 19 years of a sentence in the United States.
Eugenio Montoya returns to Colombia deported after 19 years in US prison
According to infobae.com, Eugenio Montoya Sánchez arrived on Friday 11 September in Bogotá from the United States, where he served a 19-year sentence for conspiracy to traffic drugs and obstruction of justice. Upon his arrival, Colombian Immigration handed him immediately over to the National Police and the DIJIN, given that an Interpol red notice is active against him.
"Colombian Immigration received and placed at the disposal of the National Police and DIJIN Eugenio Montoya Sánchez, recognised leader of the defunct North Valley cartel, who is subject to an Interpol Red Notice for crimes associated with the manufacture, trafficking and carrying of firearms or ammunition and falsification of public documents," states the official statement from Colombian Immigration.
Montoya's original sentence had been set at 30 years in prison, but he obtained a reduction of 11 years and was released early in 2026. The Colombian Government had extradited him to the United States on 16 June 2008.
The director general of Colombian Immigration, José Luis Castañeda Tiria, attributed the procedure to binational coordination: "This handover is the result of effective cooperation between Colombia and the United States and the coordinated work of Colombian Immigration with the National Police and DIJIN."
Known by the alias "Don Hugo", Montoya Sánchez was one of the most prominent members of the defunct North Valley cartel and brother of Diego León Montoya, alias "Don Diego", head of that criminal organisation. Within the structure, Eugenio managed resources from drug trafficking and oversaw the sites where cash was kept. Judicial documents identified him as responsible for financing cocaine laboratories, funding drug transport and paying security personnel.
The organisation maintained between USD 18 and 20 million in cash distributed across various points in Colombia, funds that were under Montoya's direct administration.
Colombian authorities had captured him in January 2007 in El Dovio, a municipality located approximately 200 kilometres west of Bogotá and considered one of the cartel's strongholds. At that time he was already facing charges in the United States for conspiracy to import cocaine and money laundering.
The North Valley cartel, of which both Eugenio and his brother Diego were prominent members, was identified as responsible for between 60 per cent and 80 per cent of cocaine that entered the United States from 1998. Eugenio managed the family assets and was considered primarily responsible for laundering money for Diego, one of the most powerful Colombian drug traffickers of that era.
The formal accusation against him was presented in September 2003 before the Southern District of Florida, modified in January 2004 and expanded on 8 April 2005 with the incorporation of new co-conspirators.
Montoya Sánchez now remains at the disposal of Colombian justice to answer for active judicial requirements, including the crimes of manufacture, trafficking and carrying of firearms or ammunition, as well as falsification of public documents, which support the active Interpol red notice against him.
Source: Google News CO — Crime