Posted by Colombian police who caught Escobar to help Gardai battle drug gangs
10th December 2021
Gardaí are going to work alongside the Colombian police force who took down Pablo Escobar to help them tackle organised crime gangs, such as the Kinahan cartel.
Garda Commissioner Drew Harris officially entered into an information-sharing agreement with the Colombian police on Tuesday, in a bid to attack transnational crime and terrorism.
Justice Minister Helen McEntee also signed a Letter of Intent with her counterpart in Colombia.
Gardaí hope they will receive vital insight from the police who took down Escobar in a bloody shootout in 1993 – Escobar’s life of crime was made into the hit Netflix series Narcos, starring Wagner Moura as the kingpin.
The United Nations of Drugs and Crime estimate that 1,228 tonnes of cocaine were produced in Colombia last year.
Millions of euros of these drugs enter Ireland annually, with the Kinahan gang crucial to its trade.
A Government spokesman said: ‘Following consultation with the Colombian Ambassador to Ireland, the Garda Commissioner received a formal request to sign a Letter of Intent with the Colombian National Police.
‘International cooperation is essential to successfully target transnational crime and terrorism,’ the Government spokesman said.
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