Tourist deaths linked to dance with devil in Colombia’s Sin City

Medellin, Colombia, was the home of infamous narco kingpin Pablo Escobar, and for many years was one of the most dangerous places on earth. In the decades since his death, the city has transformed into a global tourism hot-spot. It’s now Colombia’s Sin City, with legal prostitution and easily accessible drugs drawing in millions of mostly male visitors every year.

But in the last three years, over 80 foreigners have died there in suspicious circumstances. In 2024, authorities say 39 tourists have died in Medellin, half of them American. The victims are nearly all men, and often were last seen leaving their hotels to meet women on dates.

Devil’s breath

They say criminals have been using dating apps such as Tinder to lure their victims, and claimed they’re using a local drug called scopolamine or ‘devil’s breath’, which can render its victims unconscious for whole days.

Channel 4 News went to investigate, and met locals who say the real figure could be much higher than 80 deaths.

Maria, not her real name, has worked for the local gangs since she was a child. Now a sex worker, she says she’s used scopolamine to drug and rob tourists. She showed us the drug, a small white powder resembling cocaine, and told us just a small amount can knock someone out in seconds when dropped in their drink, or used in a spray bottle.

“You simply open it, one spray and they’re out cold.”

She says some of her victims may even have died after she put them to sleep, and she thinks the number of those killed by the drug’s use may be much higher than 80. “I think it’s higher, but not everyone wants to admit it. Believe me, there are more than 80 deaths.”

Organised crime

Organised crime in Medellin is rife and tourists make easy targets, partly because some of them come looking for vices that they can’t get anywhere else.

Chantal, a sex worker from Venezuela, says most of her clients are foreigners. She earns up to 500 dollars a night, and uses dating apps like Tinder to attract her clients. But some of these foreigners have requests she has to refuse.

“There are foreigners who like virgins or ‘innocents’,” she says. One man asked her if she could find young girls, of just 15 or 16. “He offered me double what I earned in a month.”

The age of consent in Colombia is just 14, though sex workers must be over 18.

A few months ago an American man was caught smuggling two children into his hotel room. He was arrested, but fled to the US. His case has now prompted a police crackdown.

The Mayor of Medellin says the city has been growing as a tourist destination in recent years, with nearly half a million visitors.

“But there is a group of people who for me are not tourists, for me they are sick and we must pursue them, wherever they are from.

“We must not stigmatise our city. It’s a beautiful city that has overcome some difficult times.”

Paying the price

But the Mayor says that many of those caught up in the scopolamine robberies are paying the price for dancing with the devil. “Yes, It is a problem, especially in these areas where these people go looking for what they should not be looking for. “

Medellin is scarred by its narco past, but the sex industry has taken over where Escobar left off.

Chantal tells us, “no matter how many laws there are, it will never end. It is already worth far more here than the drug trade”.

Additional reporting by Sachin Croker