The main Latin American drug trafficker wanted by the United States is arrested in Bolivia and put on a US plane

The famous Latin American drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia.

Marset, a Uruguayan citizen who appeared on the list of most wanted fugitives in the United States, was handed over to DEA agents at the Santa Cruz airport and then loaded onto a US plane, state television showed.

“The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the American justice system,” Marco Antonio Oviedo, a senior minister, told reporters.

The capo was arrested in an exclusive neighborhood of Santa Cruz, the economic capital of Bolivia, in an operation that mobilized hundreds of police, according to an News journalist.

Four other people were arrested in the raids, which came days after Bolivia and 16 other countries joined a military alliance against cartels launched by President Trump.

Marset, the most famous drug trafficker in southern South America, had a $2 million reward on his head for alleged money laundering. An indictment unsealed in the Eastern District of Virginia alleges that Marset “leads a large-scale drug trafficking organization believed to be responsible for moving tons of cocaine from South America to Europe, while generating tens of millions in cash and profits,” according to the DEA.

The soccer-loving 34-year-old laundered the profits from his drug business by buying and sponsoring lower-level professional soccer teams in Latin America and Europe and even putting himself in starting lineups.

He was imprisoned in his native Uruguay for drug trafficking between 2013 and 2018 and later moved through South America, residing for a time in Bolivia and also in Paraguay.

Both countries had also issued arrest warrants for him.

The United States issued a reward for his capture last year after what it called “the largest and most consequential organized crime investigation against cocaine trafficking in the history of Paraguay.”

Marset is accused of leading a criminal network that imported more than 16 tons of cocaine into Europe.

The Paraguayan investigation reportedly revealed that he was asking for advice in text messages on how to disappear the bodies of murdered enemies.

Imitating soccer stars.

A 2024 Washington Post profile said Marset paid $10,000 in cash to wear the No. 10 jersey worn by soccer icons Pelé, Maradona and Messi during their teams’ matches.

He stamped his drug shipments as “The King of the South,” the Post added, and gave orders that the cocaine be hidden in shipments of cookies and soybeans.

He had been a fugitive since July 2023, when he fled his home in Santa Cruz, on the eve of a massive police operation to capture him.

Bolivia’s center-right president, Rodrigo Paz, on Friday thanked “international organizations from several neighboring countries and the continent” for their cooperation in his capture.

Paz has sought to boost ties with the United States since winning office last year in elections that ended two decades of socialist rule begun under indigenous coca grower Evo Morales.

Bolivia is the world’s third largest producer of cocaine, which is made from coca leaves.

Marset is the second Latin American drug boss killed or captured in less than a month.

American intelligence contributed to his capture.

The arrest comes just weeks after notorious cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, also known as “El Mencho”, He was killed during an operation in the western state of Jalisco. He had a $15 million bounty on his head and was killed in a military shootout.