TWO Scots tourists took a Pablo Escobar tour in Colombia – and ended up posing for pictures with the drug lord’s nephew.
Jackie Ann Douglas and Linzi McKechnie took the amazing snap with Nicolas Enrique Escobar Urquijo next to an old wanted poster for his father, Roberto, who was asleep a few yards away.
The intrepid pair, from Edinburgh, paid to take a tour in Medellín, the base for Escobar’s drug empire.
The crime lord was killed in a shootout on December 2, 1993, but as recently as 2009 the city was recording an average of nine murders a daily.
Speaking about their conversation with Nicholas, Pablo’s nephew, Jackie said: “He was intrigued as to why we watched Narcos and what we thought about it and what is known in Scotland about Pablo.
“He wanted to make it clear that certain things in Narcos did not happen, such as blowing up the plane.”
Jackie, an administrator, added: “The nephew was arrested in April last year for thieving.
“His mugshot is the same as Pablo’s as he was taught to smile as this can ‘buy their way out of anything’.”
Jackie and Linzi, a nurse, were supposed to meet Pablo’s brother Roberto, nicknamed El Osito, who worked as the accountant for Pablo’s Medellín Cartel, and was imprisoned alongside his brother in the 1990s.
But Roberto, now in his 70s, had slipped and injured himself earlier in the day, and lay inside his house, whilst they took photos with his “Wanted” sign.
Jackie added: “His dad Roberto was the book keeper so knows where all the money is hidden but it’s a big secret – how much is left and where it is.”
Speaking about the rest of the tour, Jackie said: “We got taken to Pablo’s grave which is beside his brother’s and mum’s, dad’s and others.
“We also got taken to his last remaining house, which was under his mum’s name. He spent his last days here before he was killed the day before his birthday.
“A lot of travellers don’t want to go on the tour with his brother as they believe the family are biased.
“We have heard many things from different guides and Narcos is about 80% correct however it glorifies Pablo. The only locals that like him are from the suburb of Envigo where he built the houses for the poor
“He is not very big here, he is thought of as just another criminal. They don’t mention his name and the tour guides give him a code name when they talk about him in public.”
Pablo Escobar, dubbed the “King of Cocaine” was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s.
His Medellin cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career.
