Sombra, Colombia’s famous drug-sniffing dog, has a bounty on her head from the country’s most powerful drug lord. (YouTube/El Tiempo) 
 
 Like a cocaine-fueled Homeric epic, Colombia’s long tragic battle with drug cartels has produced countless heroes and villains. But one figure cutting across the country’s current narco battlefield, a name drawing praise and hate alike, is actually a 6-year-old German shepherd you can find trotting through the country’s airports. 
 
 Sombra — “shadow” in English — is a drug-detection dog with the Colombian National Police. Over the past few years, her radar nose has led to more than 200 arrests and the seizure of at least nine tons of illicit drugs. That success has turned the dog into something of a folk hero in a country consumed by ongoing bloodshed piled on top of a long legacy of drug violence. The Colombian press has even dubbed Sombra “the terror” of drug traffickers. 
 
 But Sombra is so good at her job that Colombia’s dominant drug crew is retaliating. They’ve put a price on the dog’s head. 
 
 According to Colombia’s RCN Radio, police intelligence recently learned about the bounty set by the Urabeños, also known as the Gulf Clan. Reports vary on the price tag for killing the dog, between 20 and 200 million Colombian pesos — or about $7,000 and $70,000 in U.S. currency. But the threat is serious enough for the National Police to take extra precautions for Sombra’s security. 
 
 “The fact they want to hurt Sombra and offer such a high reward for her capture or death shows the impact she’s had on their profits,” a police representative told the Telegraph. 
 
 Sombra came to Colombian law enforcement from a kennel in Antioquia, the region of the country that’s home to the city of Medellin, the springboard for Colombia’s fearsome cartels of the 1980s and 1990s. Outfitted in a neon-yellow vest, the dog is tasked with thrusting her trained snout into luggage and packages in Colombia’s ports and airports along the country’s Gulf Coast. 
 
 RCN Radio reports her first major bust was in March 2016, when Sombra nosed her way toward a container of banana boxes that secretly held 2,958 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride. The shipment was on its way to Belgium. 
 
 In May 2017, Sombra discovered another shipment heading to Belgium containing 1.1 tons of cocaine. Last June, she led police to an even larger find — 5.3 tons of cocaine, the BBC reported. Later, she discovered four more tons secreted in an auto parts shipment. 
 
 In total, her busts have resulted in 245 arrests, Colonel Carlos Fernando Villareal told RCN Radio. Sombra’s efforts for law enforcement have twice earned her the Wilson Quintero medal, an honor awarded for critical contributions to the fight against drug trafficking. 
 
 Sombra’s accomplishments have made her the cuddly face of Colombia’s anti-drug effort. 
 
 She’s been featured on local television. In airports, the dog is asked to pose for selfies with admirers. And the narcotics police regularly post about her accomplishments on Twitter. This month, police used Sombra to specifically call out the Urabeños’ alleged notorious chief, a former paramilitary guerrilla turned drug trafficker named Dairo Antonio Úsuga. In Colombia, he’s known as Otoniel. 
 
 “In the last three years she’s become the torment of ‘Otoniel,’ ” a recent tweet stated. 
 
 Nuestro can "Sombra" fue la mejor durante los entrenamientos en detección de drogas ilícitas, en los últimos tres años se convirtió en el tormento de "Otoniel" incautandole 9 toneladas de cocaína #ConozcaMás a "Sombra" en el desfile #20DeJulio #COLOMBIAunasolaFuerza pic.twitter.com/a6tWpjkdiQ — Policía Antinarcóticos (@PoliciaAntiNar) July 20, 2018 
 
 The dog can handle the high profile, her owners have said. 
 
 “Sombra is a very friendly, calm canine, and for that reason, she has no problem approaching children or people who want to say hello to her,” Oscar Favian Solarte, head of the anti-narcotics division, told El Tiempo. “She’s playful, and in fact that is part of the development of her job. Not only to look for caches of illicit drugs but also, after her work is done, to de-stress, so to speak.” 
 
 But all that attention has put Sombra in the Urabeños’ crosshairs. 
 
 Originally a paramilitary outfit, one of the many armed groups trading bullets in Colombia’s long national struggle, the Urabeños are now the country’s largest criminal organization and control much of the drug trade, according to InSight Crime. Consolidating power by taking on all rivals, the group’s power base spreads along Colombia’s northwest coast. According to InSight, the group pulls money from various criminal activities, such as extortion, illegal mining and smuggling. 
 
 Otoniel remains at large and in control of the vast organization. 
 
 In response to the bounty on Sombra’s life, General Jorge Nieto, head of the national police, has ordered the dog transferred to Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport, outside the Urabeños’ territory on the coast. According to the Telegraph, additional officers will now accompany Sombra on her rounds. 
 
 Samantha Schmidt contributed to this report. 
 
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 A dog in Colombia which has sniffed out a record amount of drugs in her career with the counter-narcotics police force has been moved to ensure her safety. 
 
 Intelligence sources said the Urabeños drugs gang had put a 200m-peso ($70,000; £53,000) price on the German shepherd's head after she found almost 10 tonnes of the gang's cocaine. 
 
 The Urabeños is considered Colombia's most powerful criminal organisation. 
 
 Sombra (Shadow) was moved from the gang's heartland to Bogotá airport. 
 
 The international airport is considered safer for her as it is outside the gang's main area of influence, but the counter-narcotics force is taking no risks. 
 
 Police said that apart from her usual handler she was now also accompanied by extra officers to improve her safety during her deployments. 
 
 Drug traffickers' scourge 
 
 Six-year-old Sombra had been deployed in ports on the Atlantic coast including Turbo, a town from which tonnes of cocaine are shipped by speedboat and sometimes by submarine to Central America and on to the United States. 
 
 Sombra sniffed out 5.3 tonnes of cocaine in Turbo and recently found another four tonnes stashed in car parts meant for export. 
 
 Image copyright Colombian police Image caption Sombra has taken part in more than 300 operations with the counter-narcotics police 
 
 Much of the drug trafficking is controlled by the Urabeños, a gang which is also known as the Úsuga clan or Gulf clan. 
 
 The gang's boss, Dairo Antonio Úsuga also known as Otoniel, is one of Colombia's most wanted men. 
 
 It is not unusual for the Urabeños to offer money to get rid of those standing in their way. 
 
 In 2012, police found leaflets signed by the gang offering $500 to anyone who killed a police officer. 
 
 The vastly bigger sum the Urabeños are offering for the killing of Shadow is indicative of the financial losses her sensitive nose has caused them. 
 
 Sombra has been with the counter-narcotics police force since she was a puppy and is credited with sniffing out drugs leading to the arrest of 245 suspects. ||||| A police sniffer dog who has found record amounts of illegal drugs has been moved from her post after one of Colombia's biggest drug gangs put a bounty on her head. 
 
 Sombra, which means Shadow in English, had been based in Turbo in the Urabá region of Colombia, a strategic point for traffickers with easy access to the sea. 
 
 In the last few years, the German Shepherd's work has led directly to 245 arrests. 
 
 Colombia’s biggest drugs gang, the Urabeños, put a price on Sombra’s head after she sniffed out 10 tonnes of their cocaine earlier this year. 
 
 The gang is offering the equivalent of £53,000 for anyone who kills her, according to police intelligence. 
 
 She was redeployed earlier this year from the Urabeños heartland to the country’s main airport. Bogotá’s El Dorado is considered safer because it is outside the area of the gang’s influence.
– A drug-sniffing Colombian police dog with nearly 250 arrests under her collar recently tracked down more than 10 tons of coke from a major drug gang. The gang's reaction: a bounty on the pooch's head that may be up to $70,000. The Telegraph reports that Sombra (Spanish for "shadow") has had to be moved from the drug-trafficking hot spot of Turbo, in Colombia's Uraba region, to the relatively safer El Dorado International Airport in Bogota after what the BBC calls the country's "most powerful criminal organization" decided she should be killed. The 6-year-old German shepherd also now has a dedicated security detail, with extra officers keeping her and her handler safe from the Urabeños, aka the Gulf Clan. The Washington Post notes Sombra, who has been with the National Police of Colombia since she was a puppy, is "something of a folk hero" in the country due to her legendary drug busts, with local media dubbing her "the terror" of narcotics traffickers. The "friendly, calm canine" often shows up on TV and in pictures with fans, and the police boast about her on Twitter. Which is why Urabeños members were enraged enough to offer the bounty, which police intelligence reports note could range anywhere from $7,000 to $70,000. "The fact they want to hurt Sombra and offer such a high reward for her capture or death shows the impact she's had on their profits," a police rep tells the Telegraph. (Sometimes drug-sniffing dogs face danger from the drugs themselves.)