{"id":44134,"date":"2025-06-29T08:02:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T13:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/?p=44134"},"modified":"2025-07-01T12:10:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:10:50","slug":"los-del-patio-criminal-network-accused-of-coordinating-trafficking-of-migrants-from-border-areas-with-venezuela-and-ecuador-had-a-hard-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/2025\/06\/29\/los-del-patio-criminal-network-accused-of-coordinating-trafficking-of-migrants-from-border-areas-with-venezuela-and-ecuador-had-a-hard-blow\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Los del Patio\u2019 criminal network accused of coordinating trafficking of migrants from border areas with Venezuela and Ecuador had a hard blow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight of the alleged members of this organization, which transported foreign citizens by land from C\u00facuta (Norte de Santander) and Ipiales (Nari\u00f1o) to Golfo de Urab\u00e1, on the border with Panama, were brought to justice.\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The Attorney General’s Office, in a joint investigative effort with the National Police, obtained material evidence that indicates the existence of a criminal network known as\u00a0\u2018Los del Patio,\u2019 which is allegedly responsible for irregularly transporting migrants through\u00a0border areas with Venezuela and Ecuador to Necocl\u00ed (Antioquia).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The organization was allegedly responsible for contacting foreigners in C\u00facuta (Norte de Santander), offering them transportation and accommodation, and taking them in tourist buses to a parking lot located at Las Cruces in Ipiales (Nari\u00f1o). At this point, they were concentrated with citizens from Chile, Per\u00fa, and Ecuador who crossed through clandestine areas near the Rumichaca International Bridge. They were finally\u00a0illegally\u00a0transported by land to Golfo de Urab\u00e1, to an area bordering Panama.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the investigation, statements\u00a0were made from several victims who were allegedly beaten, whose passports were taken away, and were threatened with firearms since they did not pay the full amount required for their transportation, which ranged between 150 and 200 dollars, and other fees imposed along the way.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Five of the alleged members of ‘Los del Patio’ were arrested as a result of the investigations carried out at properties in Ipiales, and another one in Medell\u00edn. During the proceedings, a firearm, ammunition, five cell phones, and dollars and Colombian pesos were seized from them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A prosecutor appointed to the branch office in Nari\u00f1o (Seccional Nari\u00f1o) brought them before a judge and charged them, according to their individual responsibility, with conspiracy to commit trafficking of migrants and manufacturing, trafficking, and possession of firearms for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces. They did not plead guilty to the charges.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The defendants were identified as\u00a0<\/span>Jos\u00e9 Ovidio Vargas Pelay, alleged ringleader;\u00a0Leonardo Antonio Paredes P\u00e9rez, Danyelo Jos\u00e9 Islanda Toca, David Jos\u00e9 Islanda Toca, Edwin Manuel Morelos, Luis Alfredo R\u00faa Riveros, Carlos Eduardo Esaa Barrios and Maikel Javier Virg\u00fcez.\u00a0<\/span> All of them must serve a prison sentence.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight of the alleged members of this organization, which transported foreign citizens by land from C\u00facuta (Norte de Santander) and Ipiales (Nari\u00f1o) to Golfo de Urab\u00e1, on the border with Panama, were brought to justice.\u00a0 The Attorney General’s Office, in a joint investigative effort with the National Police, obtained material evidence that indicates the existence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-44134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44134"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44136,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44134\/revisions\/44136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fiscalia.gov.co\/colombia\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}