ONE of Europe’s most wanted drug lords was gunned down in Mexico after years of evading capture.
Marco Ebben, who once faked his own death to avoid arrest, was shot and killed just outside Mexico City this week.
The 32-year-old convicted drug trafficker was at the top of Europol’s “most wanted fugitives” list after years of involvement in international drug trades.
Officials sentenced him to seven years in prison in 2020 for allegedly smuggling 400 kilograms of cocaine in pineapple-filled containers with accomplices.
The offenses occurred between 2014 and 2015 along a suspected drug trafficking route from Brazil to the Netherlands.
The circumstances surrounding the Dutchman’s death have yet to be confirmed, but he is believed to have been targeted by rival gangs.
An image purportedly shows the kingpin’s body on the ground in a parking lot at an upscale residential complex in Atizapán de Zaragoza.
After being convicted in October 2020, Europol believes he went into hiding and fled Europe.
An international manhunt for Ebben has continued ever since.
He is said to have been living in Mexico under a false identity since 2023.
Officials say Ebben has long been suspected of having close ties to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, a notorious drug trafficking organization.
In order to avoid being imprisoned, he allegedly faked his death last October in the cartel stronghold of Culiacan.
He was accused of attempting to deceive cops by staging his fake death amid a fierce turf war between two Sinaloa Cartel factions.
Last month, a drug cartel kingpin was apprehended in the United Kingdom after agents tracked him down through his wife’s boastful posts about their trips.
Luis Grijalba is wanted in the United States on charges of exporting cocaine from Costa Rica.
The 43-year-old has already survived two assassination attempts in Costa Rica, including one in which he hid behind a cherry tree while seven comrades were shot.
