Colombia’s authorities said Monday they had arrested more than 100 alleged members of drug trafficking paramilitary successor groups in a major offensive against organized crime.
According to the national Prosecutor General’s Office, the detainees are members of the Gaitanista Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AGC), a.k.a. Los Urabeños, La Cordillera and the Libertadores de Vichada.
All three groups are led by former members of paramilitary group AUC who took over their former organization’s criminal and political activity after the AUC demobilized between 2003 and 2006,
According to the prosecution, the detainees face charges ranging from extortion, homicide and drug trafficking.
Eighty-four alleged members of the AGC, 12 of La Cordillera, 11 of undefined organized crime groups and two alleged members of the Libertadores de Vichada were arrested.
Among the alleged neo-paramilitaries is “Alfa 11,” and alleged ringleader of the AGC in the south of the Choco province and “Parra,” an alleged ringleader of the Cali-based “Avestruz” gang.
The operation, called Nemesis V, was carried out in at least 9 of Colombia’s 32 departments and was a “major blow” to organized crime, according to the prosecution.
