 During January 1987, Abello was included in a group of 128 major narcotics figures whose capture was ordered by President Virgilio Barco.Although he was captured in Barranquilla during that same month, he was released shortly thereafter, apparently with the help of Miguel Pinedo Barros, a senator in La Guajira and reputed protector of cocaine traffickers.He was indicted by a United States federal grand jury in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during 1987 on charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine into the United States.