‘Scouse Escobar’ in Columbia is being hunted by top US authorities

A Liverpool man believed to be at large in Colombia is a top priority target for American authorities.

The 41-year-old has been reported to be at the head of a huge global cocaine trafficking network, sourcing high purity quantities directly from sources in Colombia. According to reports in Greece, the drugs were smuggled through the ports of Mexico, Ecuador and Costa Rica, hidden inside loads of bananas, before heading to Europe and Australia.

This was the route believed to have been used for a shipment of 300kg of cocaine seized after it was unloaded at a luxury villa in Thessaloniki, Greece, this month. Four British men, aged 38, 48, 45 and 52 and mostly from Merseyside, were detained.

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One of the men, the 38-year-old, is the brother of the outstanding fugitive. Despite the drugs heading to a European and Australian market, the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) played a central role in the dismantling of the crime syndicate alongside Greek police and Italian customs.

A spokeswoman for the DEA told the ECHO: “The DEA does not confirm or otherwise comment on ongoing investigations”.

According to the Greek authorities, the traffickers moved from elsewhere in Europe and set up their headquarters in Thessaloniki a short time before the raids. However, the cartel leader remained in South America.

The men were arrested after unloading the cocaine at the villa from a white van. Armed police stormed the premises, but one of the men tried to grab a weapon from an officer before being restrained.

According to Greek media, the men appeared in court earlier this month for a pre-trial hearing but “remained silent”. Under Greek privacy laws their identities have not been released, and any trial could be a considerable time away.

The ECHO previously reported that the 45-year-old man, from Liverpool, is a person of interest in an unsolved murder enquiry in England. Greek media reports describe the case as involving a man being “tortured and set on fire”.