WorldCanadian fugitive Arif Jhuman has been captured while working out at a gym in Medellín, Colombia, authorities announced late Wednesday. Jhuman, a convicted drug trafficker, spent more than three years on the run and was recently wanted in connection with a cross-border firearm-smuggling plot.Arif Jhuman was wanted by U.S. federal authorities in connection with gun-smuggling conspiracyThomas Daigle · CBC News · Posted: Jul 09, 2026 1:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.Arif Jhuman, centre, a Canadian convicted drug trafficker, was arrested by Colombian security forces and Interpol in Medellín, authorites said Wednesday. (Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez)A Canadian drug trafficker who spent more than three years on the run — recently wanted by U.S. authorities in connection with a cross-border gun-smuggling plot involving a "sophisticated" criminal organization — has been captured while working out at a gym in Medellín, Colombia.Video posted online by Colombia’s defence minister Wednesday night shows heavily armed security forces raiding the facility and a man later escorted away in handcuffs.On social media, Medellín’s mayor identified the man as Arif Jhuman, a Canadian citizen who went by the alias Gillani and is wanted by U.S. federal authorities in connection with a firearm trafficking conspiracy.Colombian police later told reporters Jhuman had been the subject of an Interpol red notice and was captured at a gym within a shopping mall. "Medellín is not a refuge for criminals," Mayor Fico Gutiérrez said in the post on X.Defence Minister Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez said Jhuman had also been sought by Canadian authorities for violating his parole.Arif Jhuman is seen in an image released by police in Ontario in April 2023, as the Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement (R.O.P.E.) Squad said he was wanted on a Canadawide warrant. (Toronto Police Service)Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced in April 2023 that Jhuman, then 36, was wanted on a Canadawide warrant for breach of parole while serving a sentence of nine years and 11 months for drug trafficking charges. The OPP said at the time he was known to frequent Toronto.An OPP spokesperson did not immediately provide a comment on the case when reached by CBC News on Thursday morning.It’s not clear when Jhuman fled Canada, but Maj.-Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón Zambrano, the head of Colombia's national police, said he appeared to have entered the country using counterfeit identification documents. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Tampa, Fla., confirmed to CBC News the man arrested in Colombia is one of five suspects charged in an indictment unsealed last December in connection with a cross-border plot to smuggle more than 100 firearms from Florida to Canada between 2023 and 2024.Guns in Toronto shootout, Hamilton killing linked to U.S. trucker's smuggling schemeRyan Wedding-linked jeweller who bought $13M Mercedes a step closer to U.S. extraditionU.S. Attorney Greg Kehoe previously told CBC News the guns — mainly Glock handguns, but also high-powered AK-47s and AR-15s — were mainly destined for Ontario. According to a statement released by Kehoe’s office in December, 29 firearms were recovered from unspecified Canadian crime scenes, including homicides. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives described Jhuman and his co-defendants at the time as being part of "a sophisticated transnational criminal organization that until recently, fuelled violent crime in Canada for sheer profit."With files from Daniela Ramirez