• Among the victims of the illegal network are merchants and informal transport drivers.
  • The Office of the Attorney prosecuted eight people who would be part of the structure and that would have links to El Mesa criminal network that commits crimes in Antioquia.

An investigation led by the Attorney General’s Office, in a joint work with Gaula of the Police and the National Army, allowed to deal a hard blow to ‘Los Montañeros’, a criminal network involved in threats, kidnappings and extortions in Soacha (Cundinamarca) and Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá.

Eight of its alleged members were charged by a prosecutor of the Sectional Office in Cundinamarca, according to their degree of participation in illegal activities, with aggravated kidnapping for ransom; manufacture, trafficking or possession of firearms or ammunition; forced displacement; qualified and aggravated theft; use of minors to commit crimes; and aggravated conspiracy to commit crimes.

None of the defendants pleaded guilty to the charges, and they must serve a prison sentence.

According to the evidence collected, the suspects are linked to the so-called El Mesa criminal network, which commits crimes in Antioquia, and which ordered extortions to drivers, owners of recycling warehouses and merchants in Soacha.

The Office of the Attorney General has information which links the arrested people to death threats against those who did not pay extortions. On other occasions, the closure of commercial establishments, or urban displacements were allegedly forced for fear of threats.

According to the investigation, in the last year at least eight illegal actions were committed against 15 people who refused to comply with the payments. Three of the defendants were arrested in Soacha (Cundinamarca), the others in those places where they were serving the preventive detention measures.

Criminal actions

  • On March 13, 2023, this network allegedly forced the owner of a bakery to pay more than 1 million pesos in exchange for not attempting against her life. Finally, the victim had to close her premises and leave the municipality.
  • In another incident that took place on April 20, 2023, ‘Los Montañeros’ allegedly entered a house in Las Brisas del Lago sector in Soacha, and using firearms, apparently, held two minors aged 15 and 3 against their will.  They demanded the payment of one million pesos in exchange for not killing them.
  • One of the most recent cases took place on January 24, in the La Isla neighborhood, in Commune 4 of Cazucá in Soacha. Two citizens were allegedly arrested, injured and probably tortured by this illegal network, who forced them to reveal the passwords of their bank accounts in order to later steal their money.

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.