The authorities gave a hard blow against criminal organizations involved in extortions and kidnapping in Departments such as Huila, Santander, and La Guajira.

The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa Delgado, presented a report about the actions carried out in the last hours against extortion and kidnapping throughout the country, which allowed the arrest of 42 people.

33 people were arrested for extortion, 7 for kidnapping, and 2 more for other crimes.

The operations were carried out in coordination with the Police-Gaula in the departments of La Guajira, Huila, Santander, Caldas, Nariño, Norte de Santander, Meta, Valle del Cauca, Arauca and Antioquia.

Four of these people have already been charged with extortion and conspiracy to commit a crime in Huila and La Guajira, respectively. The Office of the Attorney General continues the process of bringing them to justice.

The Attorney General Francisco Barbosa stressed that criminal organizations that are affecting the security and tranquility of citizens in different cities will be impacted.

Los Cobradores del Golfo

The authorities arrested 12 people who apparently were part of the criminal organization Los Cobradores del Golfo, which operated in the Departments of La Guajira, César and Magdalena Medio. All of them will be charged with conspiracy to commit a crime and extortion.

Among the people arrested is alias Carlitos, who would be the head of this criminal group, allegedly involved in extortions against the inhabitants of this area of ​​the country.

This criminal organization allegedly operated from different prisons in the country. They communicated with the victims under the form of impersonation in order to ask for money. In some cases, its members pretended to be members of groups such as the Clan del Golfo or the ELN in order to obtain money in exchange for not threatening the lives of families of those people affected.

About 38 acts of extortion were identified in which these people were involved.

 ‘The Intermediaries’

Seven people were arrested in the municipality of Pitalito (Huila) by virtue of a court order. They who would be part of the criminal group Los Intermediadores that are allegedly responsible for the commission of extortions in that population.

According to the investigations, the people involved asked the victims for money to recover the motorcycles that had been previously stolen.

Prison sentences were issued for six of the people arrested.

Three other people were already in prison for these events and will be charged with extortion in the coming days.

Members of ‘The Avengers’ were arrested

Four alleged members of the criminal organization Los Avengers were arrested in the municipality of San Gil (Santander). They are allegedly responsible for the kidnapping and torture of two people.

According to an investigation carried out with the support of the National Police, these people were involved in two cases of kidnapping as part of a settling of scores to recover items that had previously been stolen from them.

Among the people arrested there are three men and a woman.

 ‘Doña Juana II’

As a result of home searches in five premises in the Department of Caldas, 4 alleged members of the criminal group Doña Juana II were arrested for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime and aggravated extortion.

Moreover, two people were arrested in flagrante delicto for the commission of manufacturing, trafficking, possession of firearms, accessories, parts, or ammunition.

The evidence indicates that the people investigated allegedly belong to an organization that coordinated extortions from prison Doña Juana de La Dorada (Caldas) against ranchers and merchants in which they pretended to be members of the so-called Clan del Golfo and demanded amounts of money between one and six million pesos in order to not to make an attempt on victims’ lives.

Two of the people arrested will be sent to prison.

When we speak, results follow.

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.