Colombia extradited one of its most notorious drug lords to the United States on Wednesday to face drug trafficking charges, President Ivan Duque announced on Twitter.

"I want to reveal that we have extradited Dairo Antonio Usuga, alias 'Otoniel'; the most dangerous drug trafficker in the world," Duque said.

"Today legality, the state of law, the security forces and justice triumphed," he said.

Usuga, 50, was the leader of Colombia's largest narco-trafficking gang, known as the Gulf Clan, and the country's most wanted person before his arrest in October.

On Wednesday afternoon, a convoy of bullet-proof police vehicles took him from his jail in Bogota to a military airport, where he was handed over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

Images shared by local media showed him handcuffed and seated in an airplane alongside Colombian police and an Interpol official.

Usuga was captured last year near the border with Panama following a massive military operation involving 500 soldiers backed by 22 helicopters.

It was one of the biggest blows to Colombia's drug trafficking business since the assassination of Pablo Escobar in 1993.

The Gulf Clan was believed to be responsible for 30 percent of cocaine exports from Colombia, the world's largest producer and supplier of the drug.

Following Usuga's arrest and that of another 90 suspected gang members, Duque declared the "end" of the Clan.

The U.S. indicted Usuga in 2009 and offered $5 million for information leading to his arrest. It accuses him and the Gulf Clan of illegally bringing at least 73 tons of cocaine into the country between 2003 and 2012. 

(With input from AFP)