Authorities have captured two suspected members of the criminal drug trafficking band Los Rastrojos, among them the presumed extortion chief.
The arrests took place in the southwest city of Cali on Wednesday. A third man committed suicide to avoid extradition, local media reported.
Among those detained is a man by the name of Heider Augusto Sarria, alias “Niño Malo,” who is accused, among other things, of being the extortion chief for Los Rastrojos, and of leading drug trafficking operations in the Norte del Valle and Eje Cafetero regions. Sarria is thought to be responsible for the deaths of at least 15 civilians in Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca department, newspaper El Colombiano reported.
“This capture has a high value for the authorities of our country, since it will bring peace to the inhabitatns, especially of Cali,” said Cesar Augusto Pinzon, director of the Antinarcotics Police, in a press release.
Pinzon added that authorities are seeking a warrant for Sarria’s extradition to the U.S, after which he will have to respond to charges of conspiracy to traffic drugs before a New York court.
The other man arrested in Cali, Luis Alfredo Angulo, alias “Checho,” is thought to be the head assassin for Los Rastrojos in Buenaventura.
In a simultaneous operation in the city of Tumaco, in the southwest Nariño department, authorities arrested lawyer Jose William Angulo, thought to be the person in charges of falsifying documents for the drug trafficking band.
