Authorities in Colombia capture 19 people for alleged links with the ‘Tren de Aragua’

Colombian authorities reported on Friday that they detained 19 alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal gang known as “Tren de Aragua”.

According to the National Police, 21 search warrants were carried out in Bogotá and the municipality of Soacha, where 11 arrests were carried out by court order and eight in flagrante delicto “for the crimes of aggravated homicide, conspiracy to commit a crime, extortion, bribery, as well as trafficking, manufacture and possession of firearms”.

Among those captured are 14 Venezuelans and five Colombians and Lieutenant Víctor Manuel Flechas Tenorio, a police officer, who served as commander of the CAI Caldas, in the Colombian capital, investigated by the institution itself, and “who would have committed the crimes own bribery, concussion, extortion and conspiracy to commit a crime”.

The Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, affirmed that with the capture of the assigned officer, it shows that the government is committed to reducing corruption within the institution.

It is the demonstration “in practice of what we have been affirming, that there is zero tolerance with corruption, it is real and that to that extent the Police will continue without any limitation, also acting within the general fight against crime,” he said.

The authorities indicated that with the captures, it is possible to clarify at least seven homicides in which the death of eight people occurred, committed between February 15 and August 6 of this year.

According to the investigation, the “Tren de Aragua” obtained profits of approximately 350 million pesos per month from the sale of some 15,000 doses of narcotics and criminal income of more than 4,200 million pesos for different modalities.

In the operation, 12,300 doses of bazuco, 3,500 of marijuana and 123 of coca base were seized, as well as a 7.65-caliber pistol, a revolver, 62 cartridges of different calibers, 21 cell phones and 223 citizenship cards.

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