A Colombian drug lord who long dominated a historically lawless area near the country's border with Venezuela was killed on Thursday in a ground and air attack, local officials announced.

Victor Navarro, 39, who was known by his nom de guerre "Megateo," was suspected in dozens of killings and had been sought by both Colombian and foreign authorities, the Associated Press reported. With a 2011 drug-trafficking indictment pending in Florida, Navarro had been subject to a $5 million U.S. bounty in addition to 45 local arrest warrants, the newswire detailed.

In a brief message on social media, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos congratulated law-enforcement personnel on the killing, calling Navarro's death a "big blow" to organized crime, according to CNN. He did not have any further comments, the news channel noted.

According to the U.S. Department of State, Navarro ran "a vast money laundering network responsible for moving millions of dollars to Colombia." He used "his money and influence to corrupt officials in Colombia and (used) corrupt police officials to escort his cocaine shipments and investigate his rivals," the department added. In addition to "Megateo," Navarro used several aliases, including "El Viejo" and "El Mono."

The AP described Navarro as a thickly built man with a taste for garish jewelry, noting that the drug lord used to wear a big gold ring on each hand -- one encrusted with diamonds, the other with emeralds. Jay Bergman, the Andean region chief for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, had told the newswire in 2013 that Navarro himself likely had "only" about 60 men under arms but could count on assistance from many allies.

Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas would not provide details of how exactly Navarro was killed but said that the killing was part of "one of the most ingenious undercover operations in Colombia in recent years."

Bogotá's efforts to dismantle the drug trade in the 1,300-square-mile Catatumbo -- which served as Navarro's home base -- could be aided by the government's recent peace deal with leftist rebels, as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have promised to help dismantle the cocaine trade in the area, the AP noted.