Members of the Chilean Torren de Aragua band arrested in Murcia | Spain

According to the interior minister, national police detained a person in the Murcia town of Molina de Segura (population 77,500) who is believed to be a member of Torren de Aragua, a dangerous group of Venezuelan origin claimed by the Chilean justice system. The arrest of the 38-year-old fugitive from Venezuela took place on November 7 last year, just two days after another police officer, Caieran, and 13 other people claimed to be members of the violent group, which allegedly sought to set up criminal organizations in Barcelona and Madrid, presumably to begin settling in Europe. In the past year and a half, a total of 16 members of the band, known for brutalizing rival groups active in at least eight South American countries, have been arrested in Spain.

The investigation to stop the fugitive was carried out jointly by the CGI (Comisaria General de Información) and the National Police Fugitive Bureau, and began in July last year following a request for cooperation from Chilean authorities before the woman was suspected of hiding after fleeing in Spain. A member of the Torren de Aragua faction operating in the Los Lagos region of Chile has been arrested.

According to the investigation, the detainees were integrated into the structure of an organization responsible for whitewashing the funds obtained by the group from kidnapping, extortion and extortion in Chile through a network of open companies and the use of bank accounts and cards that could be converted into virtual currency and withdrawn from the country. Using this system, criminal groups moved $138 million (over €119 million). In this South American country, the Torren de Aragua incident is said to have involved particular brutality, including the murder of two people who were buried alive in the city of Arica.

An investigation by the National Police eventually traced the woman to Molina de Segura, where she was arrested after abandoning the house where she was hiding. This is not the first time fugitives from the Aragua train have been detained in Spain. Last June, Luis Jose RR, also known as Luis Jose RR, was arrested in Madrid. MamelaThe 30-year-old is considered the leader of one of the factions of the criminal group operating in Peru, known as Los Gallegos. He was charged with involvement in the murder of a member of a rival organization that challenged the regulation of prostitution in Lima.

Founded 20 years ago, Torren de Aragua is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Venezuela, committing all kinds of crimes, from dealing with people for sexual exploitation to drug trafficking, including arms trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and contract killings. It has penetrated several countries in South America and is considered a threat to national security in Chile. In July, the U.S. State Department offered a $5 million (4.3 million euro) reward for information leading to the arrest of leader Hector Rutherford Guerrero Flores. Niño GuerreroSince being imprisoned in 2023, his whereabouts are still unknown. Washington authorities view the group as a multinational organization “dedicated to terrorism.”