‘Britain’s Escobar’ suspected of masterminding giant Colombian cocaine racket arrested in dawn raid
Andrew Deamer believed to have run laboratories disguising drug as pet food in multi-million-pound trafficking ring
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Your support makes all the difference.A British man dubbed the "East Midlands Escobar" for his alleged role in a giant Colombian cocaine racket has been arrested after armed commandos stormed his home.
Andrew Deamer, 52, originally from Barrow upon Soar in Leicestershire, is believed to have run laboratories where the drug was disguised as pet food and industrial fertiliser so that it could be exported.
He ran the £354m cocaine ring in the Colombian town of Rionegro near Medellin, where Pablo Escobar operated a cocaine trafficking ring in the 1970s and 1980s, investigators say.
Police, army and navy troops also seized his wife Marcela Zapata, 37, in the dawn raid.
Footage from CCTV in their home shows the couple racing through the house as the commandos move in.
Mr Deamer was then filmed climbing down from his loft after his five golden retriever dogs gave away his hiding place by barking at the hatch.
The father of two - also known as El Mono, or the Monkey - is accused of being at the centre of Colombian cartels that are responsible for the production and supply of most of the world’s cocaine.
The drugs rackets could potentially worth £1.2bn, the Sunday Mirror reported.
Accused of being a trusted lieutenant of a violent syndicate, if convicted he could face a lighter 14-year prison sentence in return for helping authorities who smashed the drugs empire.
Mr Deamer, who regularly flaunted his wealthy lifestyle online, is understood to have owned a string of Breaking Bad-style labs where cocaine was disguised as dog and cat food. It was sold in Europe, the UK and the US.
Colombia’s Office of the Attorney General, known as The Fiscalia, said 2.5 tonnes of the drug were seized in raids dating back three years.
They said he is also accused of trafficking six tonnes of cocaine for another syndicate – linking cocaine with a street value of £354m directly to him.
Before moving to Colombia, he lived in Florida for a number of years, where he claimed to work in aviation.
The Foreign Office said: “We are providing consular assistance to a British man detained in Colombia.”