Colombian President Ivan Duque on Friday signed the extradition papers for Colombia's most wanted drug lord and the head of the criminal organization Clan del Golfo (Gulf Clan), Dairo Antonio Usuga, also known as "Otoniel."

"I have just signed the extradition of ... 'Otoniel', the worst drug trafficker and criminal in Colombia's recent history," Duque said on Twitter. "The country's institutions are showing their strength and firmness."

Colombia's Supreme Court of Justice approved his extradition on drug trafficking charges this week, several months after U.S. authorities made the request.

His defense team had been fighting the extradition order, but on March 25 Colombian Defense Minister Diego Molano said the drug lord's case was not accepted by Colombia's Special Jurisdiction for Peace, rejecting his lawyers' arguments that their client should be tried by the tribunal instead of being extradited.

"Otoniel" trafficked 180 to 200 tonnes of cocaine per year with the Clan del Golfo and is responsible for the deaths of more than 200 members of Colombia's security forces, according to Colombian authorities.

In October, authorities captured "Otoniel" in a jungle area in Uraba, a region in the northwest Colombian department of Antioquia.

(With input from Xinhua and Reuters)