A high-ranking member of Colombia’s Gulf Clan drug cartel, who previously plotted to assassinate the country’s President Gustavo Petro, was killed in a joint operation by the state’s armed forces and the police.

Axar.az reports via TASS, the South American republic’s defense ministry said.

"One of the criminals involved in an assassination plot against President Gustavo Petro has been eliminated. This member of the Gulf Clan is known under the aliases Omar or Nino, and he is a gang member with a 25-year-long criminal record," the ministry said on the X social network.

According to the Colombian Defense Ministry, Omar was not just a low-level drug peddler, as he took orders directly from the Gulf Clan boss. He, along with another member of the cartel, was killed in an operation in the western Colombian region of Valle del Cauca.

The ministry reported that the Gulf Clan’s plan was to assassinate Petro last year during the president’s visit to the Choco region in the west of the country.