• In 35 raids, thousands of doses of cocaine, coca paste, marijuana cigarettes cash, military equipment of the National Army, and hundreds of bottles of adulterated liquor ready for sale were seized. 

  • In Sucre, 8 people were arrested for adulteration of liquor. 

The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, in development of his strategy ‘En la calle y en los territorios’ (near people and territories) visited Yopal (Casanare) where he made two important announcements related to the arrests of people who will be prosecuted for crimes that affect public safety and public health. 

“We came to establish the intervention strategy against crime in different parts of this department, to understand the dynamics of violence and produce results. This is what has allowed us to move forward with the Attorney General’s Office during this year. Closer to the territories and closer to the citizens, in a Prosecutor’s Office in motion”, highlighted the Attorney General. 

The criminal structure ‘La Empresa’ received a hard blow 

The Directorate of the Technical Investigative Corps (CTI), in a joint operation with the Cundinamarca Sectional Directorate of the Office of the Attorney General, Sijín Cundinamarca and units of the Thirteenth Brigade of the National Army, gave a hard blow to the criminal structure called ‘La Empresa’, involved in drug trafficking, the commission of murders, enforced disappearances and other illegal activities. 

This criminal organization operated in areas such as Rafael Uribe, Usme, Chapinero and Mártires, in Bogotá, as well as in municipalities near the main city of the country. 

According to information that was established, the leaders of the criminal organization ordered, in the last two years, the murder of 10 of its members who served as money collectors or retail drug dealers. The victims were apparently dismembered. 

On the other hand, the evidence would indicate that this structure would also be responsible for the forced disappearance of a woman of foreign nationality. 

The investigation coordinated by a special prosecutor appointed to the CTI allowed to carry out home searches that led to 26 arrests. The mega operation took place in Bogotá, Líbano (Tolima), Marquetalia (Caldas) and Medellín (Antioquia). 

The success of this legal action is the result of the 2020-2024 Strategic Direction defined by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, to combat criminal organizations that affect public health and impact their criminal income. 

Seizures 

Two firearms (a revolver and a pistol with a silencer), National Army’s equipment (jackets, backpacks, boots), thousands of doses of drugs (coca paste, 21,700 doses of cocaine and 3,000 marijuana cigarettes) and cash were located and seized at the detainees’ houses, and rooms used as warehouses. 

Authorities also found 1,600 bottles of adulterated liquor ready for their sale. It was proved that the liquor had false stamps, rings and labels that gave the product the appearance of legality. 

Offenses 

The 26 detainees will be brought before supervisory judges in the next few hours to hold a hearing* for the legalization of arrest, for the indictment, and request of a detention measure for the crimes of: aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime; trafficking, manufacture, or possession of drugs; aggravated murder and enforced disappearance. 

In addition, several people arrested in flagrante delicto will be charged with illegal possession of firearms for the exclusive use of the armed forces and illegal use of uniforms and insignia. 

Results in Sucre 

Two months ago, the Attorney General visited Sucre and Córdoba, and established a strategy to attack crime in those Departments. “Today, we want to tell Colombian citizens that we have arrested eight people who were involved in the adulteration of liquor in a great operation that we carried out a couple of days ago and that we presented in Bogotá after months of investigations”, said Attorney General Barbosa when he referred to the overwhelming result in Sucre. 

According to the evidence collected, the detainees would be part of the criminal group known as San Simón, which was involved in imitating different national and foreign liquors. 

During the investigation, it was established that the criminal group distributed and commercialized its illicit product in the Departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, Magdalena and Sucre. 

The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest. 

*Several  kinds  of  hearings  held  in  one  hearing  (known as audiencias concentradas in Spanish) 

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.