The Attorney General’s Office prosecuted 17 people, including 3 teenagers, who were involved in drug trafficking activities in different municipalities in the north area of Valle del Cauca.
Nine (9) of the 17 arrests and custody measures were carried out by virtue of a court order and 8 in flagrante delicto. Seven people were allegedly part of a criminal structure identified as ‘Los de Bella’. During the judicial proceedings, authorities seized nearly 40,404 grams of narcotics, mostly marijuana.
In Cartago, seven alleged members of the Los de Bella criminal group, a network involved in the sale and distribution of narcotics in Bellavista neighborhood, were prosecuted. The Prosecutor’s Office linked them to, at least, 39 facts that were committed between April 20 and June 25 of this year.
In Andalucia, a 17-year-old minor was prosecuted after National Police took him under custody when he was apparently traveling on a public service bus in possession of 7,000 grams of marijuana. The teenager pleaded guilty to the charges.
In Ansermanuevo, two other minors, 17 and 16, who were traveling in a minibus, were accused of carrying 14,344 grams of marijuana in their luggage. They did not plead guilty to the charges.
The defendants were charged with aggravated criminal conspiracy and trafficking, manufacturing or possession of narcotics. According to judges’ decisions,11 of the defendants must serve a prison sentence and 3 house arrest. Three adolescents were sent to juvenile detention centers.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out 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.