Officials from the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá, Colombia, announced on Wednesday the capture of five members of the Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization.
The five individuals, four men and one woman, were apprehended by local police forces in an anti-extortion crackdown in the Bogotá districts of Kennedy, Antonio Nariño, and Bosa. The five Tren de Aragua members stand accused of extortion, homicides, and multiple other crimes.
According to remarks reportedly given by the police, the group practiced “black magic” to avoid capture.
One of the men arrested, identified with the alias “Bellaco,” is accused by local authorities of being the man responsible for a grenade attack in September that left two people dead and ten injured in Kennedy, including two police officers. One of the dead was identified as Emilia Elena Bermudez, a 61-year-old woman gravely injured in the attack who died from her wounds hours later.
“The fight against extortion in Bogotá is one of the priorities of this administration. With the Police we have captured another five people linked to the so-called ‘Tren de Aragua,’ who would be responsible for the grenade that was thrown a month ago on Ciudad de Cali Avenue and 38th Street,” Mayor of Bogotá Carlos Fernando Galán said.
The woman detained by the police was identified as alias “Francesca,” a Tren de Aragua member allegedly dedicated to the extortion of women engaged in paid sexual activities. According to information from the Bogotá mayoral office, “Francesca” replaced a man identified as “Ratón” — another Tren de Aragua member arrested in July — in the extortion scheme.
The woman reportedly received orders from another Tren de Aragua individual identified as “Giovanny,” who in turn is alleged to be one of the most trusted men under the Tren de Aragua’s leader, Héctor “the Child” Guerrero. Guerrero has been missing since September 2023, when the Venezuelan socialist regime “raided” and emptied the Tocorón prison, an inmate facility that served as Tren de Aragua’s main headquarters.
Noticias Caracol, a Colombian news program, reported on Wednesday that “Francesca” had previously fled Bogotá and intended to reach the United States, passing through the Darién Gap jungle trail between Colombia and Panama. Due to the migrant controls established in the area, however, she was unable to continue her journey and returned to Bogotá, where she was finally caught.
José Daniel Gualdrón, commander of the Metropolitan Police of Bogotá, stated that law enforcement officials have detained 178 individuals in the ongoing crackdown on extortion in Bogotá. Of those, 32 were believed to be Tren de Aragua members, while the rest belonged to common criminal groups.
“They resort to santería, they resort to black magic so that nothing happens to them and so that the authorities do not reach them. They resort to everything, to whatever there is, in order to be able to outwit the authorities,” Gualdrón said when giving details of the operation.
The Colombian authorities also revealed that the criminals extorted merchants and controlled the sale of narcotics in the main nightlife areas of Kennedy. Those who refused to pay the extortion fees were prohibited from working in the sector or had their families threatened or subjected to extreme violence, police said.
In addition to the arrests, police officers seized 2,200 grams of narcotics, seven cellphones, two firearms, a motorcycle, and several extortion pamphlets. The Tren de Aragua members were dosing narcotics to be sold in Kennedy at the time of their capture.
“This is a great result of the Police and the Prosecutor’s Office and we will continue to give them to overcome extortion in Bogotá,” Mayor Galán pointed out.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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