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John Jairo Velásquez, also known as Popeye, confessed to his involvement in more than 3,000 killings during his time in Escobar’s notorious Medellin cartel.

Among his victims included two presidential candidates, a police chief and, perhaps most shockingly, more than 100 passengers travelling aboard a domestic airliner laden with explosives.

Nowadays Popeye claims to have reformed himself, setting up a bizarre YouTube channel – called Remorseful Popeye – in which he attempts to atone for his past life by warning others away from a life of crime.

(Image: DAILY STAR ONLINE/PR)

Director Colin Offland set out to track down the evil killer for his participation in upcoming documentary Wildlands – but found the tables were turned in a chilling twist.

“We land in Medellin, we’re in the hotel and Rusty [Young, reporter] gets on the phone and asks him where we’re going to meet and if he was bringing security,” Offland exclusively told Daily Star Online.

“We needed security but what we didn’t want to happen was him to have his security and then there be some kind of gunfight.

“So we made this phone call and we said ‘where are you?’

“He said ‘I’m in your hotel’. He somehow had tabs on us.

(Image: FACEBOOK) (Image: PR)

“To find out he was at our hotel, I was worried for the crew – I gave them the option not to go – but there’s a lot of people who want revenge on Popeye.

“He’s been involved in over 3,000 murders, so there’s a lot of families that are going to not want him alive.”

Popeye was jailed for his crimes in 1992, sentenced to 30 years in a high-security prison, but was released after serving 20 years in 2014.

He now claims to dedicate 14 hours a day to answering questions sent to him, recording new YouTube videos and fielding questions from researchers into the underworld.

Former Navy SEAL Adam Newbold claimed the Medellin cartel were once the most violent in all of South America.

“The Medellin [cartel] certainly used to be. But now it’s constantly changing," Newbold said.

“There are rivalries [between cartels] and they seem to pride themselves on being the most feared, the most dangerous, the most violent. And that is dangerous for everyone else.”

Colin Offland spoke to Daily Star Online at the release of Wildlands, a companion feature documentary to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, exploring real life stories behind the War on Drugs. The film is due to be released on March 6.