Video footage shows cartel boss Juan Castro strolling out of prison in guard's uniform
Juan Castro, the 'second-in-command' of the global Colombian cartel Gulf Clan, was caught on tape last week slipping out of the La Picota prison in Bogotá, Colombia. Responding to a '$5 million' get out of jail card, Castro, a drug lord awaiting extradition to the United States donned a prison guard's uniform and strolled out of a Colombian maximum security prison on Friday, March 18.
Castro walked through seven doors, one of which was left open by National Penitentiary and Jail Institute inspector Miltón Jimenez, dressed as a prison guard. Jimenez was taken into custody without incident on Friday for his suspected role in the plan, and he is due in court on Tuesday. If he is proven guilty of aiding Castro's escape, he may face up to 12 years in prison.
READ MORE
Drug barons: 10 of the richest drug lords of all time
Four inmates have escaped at Gallia County Jail in Ohio, are considered extremely dangerous
Following the heinous daylight event, prison director Juan Gordillo, an assistant director, and 55 guards have all been suspended. Castro's escape comes about a month after Colombian officials foiled a similar scheme by the Gulf Clan and other Mexican gangs to free Gulf Clan head Dario Suga and avoid extradition to the US.
Castro was arrested in May 2021 and is charged in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida with drug trafficking and money laundering. He was not in his prison cell at 11 pm on Thursday night, according to a preliminary report acquired by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
🔴 Le dejaron la puerta abierta.
— EL TIEMPO (@ELTIEMPO) March 20, 2022
EL TIEMPO revela los videos de las cámaras de seguridad de la cárcel La Picota de Bogotá en los que se ve al narco Juan Castro Estupiñán, alias Matamba, cuando se fuga ► https://t.co/OjPTiCDMf2
Vea acá las imágenes ↓ pic.twitter.com/p8JPvH6N7K
Castro was said to have been in one of the prison complex's courtyards, where he was working out the logistics of his audacious escape, before returning to his cell at 12:30 am. He then dressed in the garb of a jail officer and walked out of the cell with Jimenez, who led him past five monitoring points.
As Castro approached the departure doors, investigators noticed that several of the security cameras were not working. One of the operational cameras saw him looking down towards the ground to hide his face from detection. Castro was not required to identify himself at the two check-in locations he passed before leaving the jail, despite the fact that he was carrying a telephone.
Authorities did not rule out the possibility that Castro flew out of Bogotá or perhaps Colombia on a plane. Castro had been a member of Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces and other paramilitary groups since he was 16 years old. He was apprehended at least 12 times and twice eluded capture.
Castro had become the chief of the Cordillera Sur, a cell of the Gulf Clan, according to narcotics inspectors in 2019. His drug-trafficking gang was linked to the National Liberation Army, dissident members of Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces, and the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, two of Mexico's most prominent criminal organizations and bitter competitors. In Colombia, Castro was charged with homicide, extortion, and illegal firearm possession.
Following the corruption scandals surrounding the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute, President Iván Duque vowed 'a comprehensive reform of the Colombian penitentiary and prison system.'
"The system cannot continue to have these behaviors without exemplary sanctions," Duque said on Friday. Colombia's Gulf Clan is the country's largest drug trafficking organization. About 1,600 combatants make up the organization, which is involved in cocaine manufacture and trafficking, as well as illicit mining. Colombia's government accuses the cartel of threatening and executing social leaders in the country.