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A Colombian drug cartel boss awaiting extradition to the US pulled off a daring escape from a supermax prison last week by putting on a guard’s uniform and simply strolling out.
Juan Castro, also known by his alias “Matamba,” remained on the run Tuesday after breaking free from the La Picota jail in Bogotá four days ago, local media reported.
Surveillance footage released by Colombia’s prison service showed Castro calmly walking out of his cell wearing the guard’s uniform.
He was caught on video passing through deserted corridors and several security doors before managing to leave the prison.
Guards only realized Castro wasn’t in his cell during roll call the following morning, officials said.
The guard suspected of giving Castro the uniform and leaving the doors ajar for him has already been arrested.
Prison director Juan Gordillo and the 55 guards who were on shift at the time have since been suspended.
Castro had been locked up in the Colombian prison since last May when he was arrested on drug charges.
He is accused of being the mastermind behind 20 percent of the cocaine shipments in Colombia’s southwest.
Castro has been arrested nearly a dozen times in the past and made multiple prison escape attempts, including one where he tried to fake his own death.
Colombian President Iván Duque announced a full reform of the country’s prison system in the wake of Castro’s latest escape.
He added the prison system “cannot continue to have these behaviors without exemplary sanctions.”
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