A prosecutor appointed to the Sectional Office in Chocó obtained five convictions for members of the criminal organization Los Mexicanos, responsible for intimidating merchants in Quibdó with millionaire payments, in exchange for not attacking their lives or those of their families.
The people involved are Wilmar Asprilla Mena and Seidy Samira Maturana Valencia, who were sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in prison; Yan Carlos Urrutia Murillo and Luis Fernando Palacios were sentenced to 4 years; and finally Jhonatan David Borja Mendoza who must serve a sentence of 1 year and 8 months in prison. They are all considered responsible for the crimes of aggravated criminal conspiracy to commit extortion and extortion, according to their individual responsibilities.
Judicial police work showed that the illegal network sent its victims, mostly merchants, messages with the phrase “Plata o plomo” (Money or bullet), in addition to making them monthly financial demands so as not to kill them or their relatives.
One of the cases reported to the Office of the Attorney General has to do with the owner of a repair shop located in Bonanza neighborhood in Quibdó, who in October 2021 was ordered to pay 20 million COP, and then, he had to continue paying monthly payments of 400,000 COP.
This figure was also demanded from the owner of a meat business, so as not to kill him. In another case, another victim was ordered to pay 50 million COP.
The detainees must serve prison sentence. House arrest or parole measures were denied.
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.