Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar’s Miami mansion was torn down Tuesday by its new owners who hope to find “treasure.”
The couple, Christian de Berdouare and his wife Jennifer Valoppi, purchased the waterfront mansion in 2014 and did not know its history, according to BBC News. The home was built in 1948 and purchased by Escobar in 1980, according to the New York Daily News.
De Berdouare who owns the fast food chain Chicken Kitchen paid over $9 million for the former drug lord’s beach pad, in contrast to the $762,500 Escobar paid in 1980. It is not certain if Escobar ever stayed in his own home before U.S. federal authorities seized it in 1987.
Escobar, who was killed in 1993, became a billionaire in the 1980s as the leader of the notorious Medellin Cartel — one of the world’s leading cocaine distributors. The cartel leader’s life serves as the basis for the popular Netflix series Narcos.
“Once we demolish this property … all the bad energies of the house will go bye-bye,” de Berdouare told the New York Daily News.
The new owners of the mansion hired professional treasure hunters to look for significant loot that can be linked to Escobar. Of particular interest to the couple is drugs, money or even human remains, according to The Miami Herald. A documentary crew was also hired by the couple to film any potential findings according to the Associated Press.
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