A Latin American drug kingpin most wanted by the US has been arrested in Bolivia, and is being put on a US plane

Notorious Latin American smuggler Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia.

Marset, a native of Uruguay who was on the US’s most wanted fugitive list, was handed over to US Drug Enforcement Administration agents at the Santa Cruz airport, then boarded an American plane, state television said.

“The arrests and deportations were carried out following a court order issued by the US Department of Justice,” said Marco Antonio Oviedo, the prime minister told reporters.

The king was arrested in the highlands of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s economic capital, in an operation involving hundreds of police, an AFP reporter said.

Four other people were arrested in the raid, which came days after Bolivia and 16 other countries joined an anti-cartel military coalition launched by President Trump.

Marset, a well-known drug dealer in the southern part of South America, had a $2 million bounty on his head for alleged money laundering. The unsealed indictment in the Eastern District of Virginia states that Marset “led a large 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 cash,” according to the DEA.

The 34-year-old soccer-loving player made profits from his drug business by buying and sponsoring low-level professional soccer teams across Latin America and Europe to the point where he even made it to the starting line-up.

He was arrested in his native Uruguay for drug trafficking between 2013 and 2018 and later moved to South America, living briefly in Bolivia and Paraguay.

Both countries have issued arrest warrants.

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

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

An investigation in Paraguay reportedly revealed him asking for advice through text messages on how to make the bodies of slain enemies disappear.

Imitation of football stars

A 2024 Washington Post profile said Marset paid $10,000 to wear the No. 10 jersey worn by soccer stars Pele, Maradona and Messi during his teams’ games.

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

He has been on the run since July 2023, when he fled his home in Santa Cruz, the night before a major police operation to arrest him.

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

Paz has sought to strengthen ties with the United States since winning office last year in an election that ended two decades of socialist rule that began under indigenous coca farmer Evo Morales.

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

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

American intelligence contributed to his capture.

The arrest comes a few weeks after known cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, too. known as “El Mencho,” he was killed during the campaign in the west of Jalisco. He had a $15 million bounty on his head and he was he was killed during a military shootout.