Ap and Afp

La Jornada Newspaper
Sunday, December 8, 2024, p. 19

Bogota. The leader of the criminal organization Aragua Train In Chile, Carlos Francisco Gómez Moreno, in command of more than a hundred members in that country, was captured early yesterday morning in a municipality in northeastern Colombia during a joint operation between the two countries, authorities reported.

Aragua Train It emerged more than a decade ago in a prison in Venezuela and was classified in July by the United States as a transnational criminal structure, which represents a growing threat for the region due to its accelerated expansion in the Western Hemisphere.

Gómez Moreno, who had a red Interpol notice for his arrest, will be sent to Chile in the coming days; He is a trusted man of the maximum leader of the Aragua TrainHector Child Guerrero, who escaped from a Venezuelan prison more than a year ago, Colombian police reported.

The arrest took place in the municipality of Los Patios, in Norte de Santander, where police broke into an apartment where they found alias Bobby along with a woman in a bedroom, shows a video released by President Gustavo Petro on his X account.

While an agent pointed a gun at him, the man, who was lying on a bed, turned face down and complied with the order. hands behind the neck.

Gómez Moreno fled three months ago from Chile where he had under his command 120 criminalswho perpetrated kidnappings, selective homicides and drug trafficking in that country, the police statement added.

TO Aragua Train He is accused of criminal activities such as human trafficking, money laundering, illicit drug trafficking, illegal mining, kidnapping and extortion, among others.

In mid-November, Jeison Alexander Lorca Salazar, alias Jeison Cominowhom Colombian authorities identified as one of the leaders of that organization and against whom there was an international arrest warrant for terrorismaggravated criminal association, trafficking in weapons, ammunition and extortion.