Gerson Galvez: Peruvian drug lord deported from Colombia Published duration 2 May 2016

image copyright AP image caption Gerson Galvez shouted to journalists in Bogota that he was innocent

Colombia has deported alleged drug lord Gerson Galvez, who has been described as Peru's most wanted man.

Mr Galvez, known as Caracol or The Snail, was arrested by Colombian police on Saturday at a shopping centre in Medellin.

Officials said he was expelled to Peru within 24 hours because he lacked migration papers.

He is accused of running a powerful cocaine-trafficking gang in the Peruvian port of Callao.

His criminal group has been linked to numerous murders in the area.

But in a brief exchange with journalists in Colombia following his arrest, Mr Galvez rejected the allegations.

"I have the right to the presumption of innocence. They didn't find anything [drugs] with me," he said as he was escorted aboard a Peruvian Air Force plane.

'Powerful shot'

Colombia's President Manuel Santos praised the police for arresting "one of the most feared crime lords in the region".

General Jorge Hernando Nieto, director of Colombia's National Police, said the arrest was "a powerful shot against transnational crime".

Peruvian police had offered a reward of $150,000 (£100,000) for information leading to his arrest.

Mr Galvez is described by La Republica newspaper in Lima as Peru's biggest exporter of cocaine.

Peru and Colombia are the world's main growers of coca leaves- the raw ingredient for cocaine - according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.