A boat pulled up to a dock in Inírida, a river town in Colombia’s remote Guainía region near the Brazilian border, carrying a desperately sick man. The armed men on board left him ashore without explanation and sped off down the river, leaving locals with no idea who he was or where he’d come from.
The man, suffering from a severe infection that had caused tissue death in his limbs, was rushed to a local hospital. What initially looked like a routine medical evacuation from the jungle took a dramatic turn once his identity was checked against international databases: he was the subject of an Interpol red notice.
Police confirmed he was Márcio Uebel Hübner, a 49-year-old Brazilian pilot wanted for his alleged role in flying roughly 656 kilograms (about 1,446 pounds) of cocaine toward São Paulo state in 2022. That flight ended in a forced landing after Brazilian authorities intercepted the plane. Hübner faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of drug trafficking and criminal association charges.
According to reporting by El Tiempo, in the months before his hospitalization Hübner’s movements had reportedly brought him close to a criminal network tied to dissident fighters loyal to “Iván Mordisco,” a commander who broke away from Colombia’s disbanded FARC guerrilla group and remains active in drug trafficking along the border.
For the full investigation and additional details, read the original report at El Tiempo.
Source: ‘Narcopiloto’, ‘Iván Mordisco’ y una bacteria ‘come carne’: el hombre que apareció agonizando en puerto de Inírida (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Arria Belli.