A team of professional treasure-hunters armed with metal detectors, magnetometers, electric saws and other devices were called by De Berdoure, the founder of the Chicken Kitchen restaurant chain, who wants to carefully search the mansion on Miami Beach.
“We expect to find any kind of valuables, because he [Escobar] was notorious to hide money, weapons and other things for a quick escape,” De Berdoure told Radio Sputnik.
Escobar bought the mansion in March 1980 and owned it until 1987, when US authorities seized the house. De Berdoure later bought the house for almost $10 million in 2014.
The house, built in 1948, has four bedrooms, six bathrooms, a pool and a garage. The mansion also has 150 feet of frontage on Biscayne Bay with a view of downtown Miami, according to the Miami Herald.
De Berdoure said the demolition of the house began this week and so far no findings have been reported. The owner said it might take as long as three weeks to dismantle the house completely.
At the height of his power, Escobar’s cartel supplied around 80 percent of all the cocaine smuggled into the United States. Escobar is thought to be the wealthiest criminal in history with an estimated net worth of $30 billion in 1990.
