The Peruvian police reported on Thursday night the capture of 30 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua, a criminal group originating in Venezuela that is accused of being responsible for several murders with hit men, human trafficking and extortion in Peru.
Of those detained, 29 are Venezuelan and one Peruvian, he told Associated Press General Ulises Guillén, head of the police department against human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The authorities raided 14 properties. In total, three rifles, eight pistols and four grenades were seized.
According to Guillén, enough elements have been obtained to demonstrate eight murders by the gang that “seeked to territorially control areas of sexual exploitation in Lima,” including the death of two Ecuadorian women on a street in the capital in February. In this crime, which was recorded by security cameras in the municipality of Lima, the police found around 28 shell casings near the victims.
The police chief said that the detainees could have entered the country since last year without passing immigration controls.
The suspects are linked to an international criminal organization “that has been plaguing not only Peru, but also Colombia, Ecuador and Chile,” Jorge Chávez Cotrina, coordinator of the prosecutor’s office against organized crime, told reporters.
In October, the Colombian police captured 19 alleged members of the Aragua Train, whom they held responsible for various crimes, including the sale of drugs in Bogotá. The presence of the group began to be noted in the Colombian capital by the appearance of at least 19 bodies abandoned in plastic bags, some of them dismembered, according to the authorities.
The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said in April that Venezuelans are almost 3.5% of the more than 33 million inhabitants of Peru and that Lima, where there are 1.1 million Venezuelans, is the city that hosts more displaced Venezuelans in the world.
In Peruvian prisons, Venezuelan prisoners make up 2%, according to figures from the National Penitentiary Institute. The majority of Venezuelan migrants work and boost the local economy, according to official data.
[Con información de The Associated Press]
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