The president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, announced, on Saturday, the arrest of the “second most important leader of the Aragua Train in Colombian territory”: Jeison Alexander Lorca Salazar, alias Jeison Comino.
On the social network
The Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, expressed his gratitude to Petro for the capture of “one of the main ringleaders” of the Aragua Train.
“This arrest occurs thanks to the arrest warrant and red alert requested at the time by the 69th National Prosecutor’s Office against Gangs of the Public Ministry of Venezuela, and the effective and diligent police cooperation between both countries,” the official said in a statement published in Instagram.
Both countries are in contact “to expedite the start of the extradition process so that this dangerous criminal is brought before Venezuelan justice as soon as possible.”
In “a luxurious property”
According to the Colombian president, the capture of Lorca Salazar took place on November 15, in the municipality of Los Santos, the department of Santander, in the northeast of the country.
Lorca Salazar was wanted by the Venezuelan authorities for a criminal process related to “the crimes of Terrorism, Aggravated Criminal Association, Arms/Ammunitions Trafficking and Extortion.”
The Colombian Ministry of National Defense reported, on social network X, that the suspect “was hiding in a luxurious property.”
The Colombian police indicated that “The captured man showed off his power by taking photos with long weapons to generate intimidation in his victims, what he did not foresee is that each photo left a key trail for his location.”
In relation to the arrest, Jaime Andrés Beltrán, mayor of Bucaramanga, capital of Santander, indicated on the social network
According to Luis Izquiel, professor of Criminology at the Central University of Venezuela, the gang was born “about 12 or 14 years ago” in a union that controlled a section of train that would cross the state of Aragua.
“The members of the union extorted contractors, sold jobs on construction sites and became known as ‘the Aragua Train’,” said the organized crime expert in an interview with BBC Mundo.
“Some of these individuals ended up imprisoned in a local prison known as the Tocorón prison and from there they began to gain strength as a criminal organization.”
Cae el segundo cabecilla más importante del tren de Aragua en territorio colombiano y con el trabajo de la policía colombiana apoyada por la venezolana.
*INFORME DE RESULTADO OPERACIÓN FRONTERA CONTRA ALIAS “JEISON COMINO” SEGUNDO CABECILLA DEL TREN DE ARAGUA Y SEGUNDO MÁS… pic.twitter.com/loIP7XFqae
— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) November 16, 2024
Although the criminal gang emerged in Venezuela, it has been expanding throughout Latin America.
US authorities designated it, in July, as a “major transnational criminal organization,” which implies a blockade of its assets passing through the United States.
“Represents a deadly criminal threat throughout the region“said the US Treasury Department, which also noted that the organization “takes advantage of its transnational networks to traffic people, especially migrant women and girls.”
In July, General William Salamanca, director of the Colombian police, indicated that there were already more than 80 arrests of members of the criminal group that were taking place in the country.
In fact, on July 1, Larry Amaury Álvarez Núñez, better known as Larry Changa, one of the founders of the Aragua Train, was captured in a rural area of the department of Quindío.
He was wanted both in his country of origin and in Chile on charges of terrorism, arms trafficking, extortion and kidnapping, according to the Colombian Ministry of Defense.
Petro, who also reported on that capture on his X account, detailed that he had “an arrest warrant in 196 countries by Interpol.”
click here to read more stories from BBC News World.
Subscribe here to our new newsletter to receive a selection of our best content of the week every Friday.
You can also follow us on YouTube, instagram, TikTok, x, Facebook and on our new channel WhatsAppwhere you will find breaking news and our best content.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
- The 3 leaders of the Aragua Train for which the US and Colombia offer rewards of US$12 million
- How the feared Tren de Aragua operates, the bloody Venezuelan mega-gang that has expanded throughout Latin America
- How the feared Aragua Train managed to expand its tentacles throughout Latin America from a “luxurious” prison in Venezuela