Colombian police have arrested one of the founders of the feared transnational crime group Tren de Aragua.
Larry Amaury Alvarez Nunez, also known as “Larry Changa,” was arrested in a rural area of Quindio department.
Colombia’s Defense Ministry said Larry Changa was wanted in his native Venezuela and Chile on charges of terrorism, weapons trafficking, extortion and kidnapping.
The Tren de Aragua criminal group he co-founded has spread in recent years from Venezuela to Chile as far south as the United States.
Larry Changa, 46, hails from the Venezuelan state of Aragua, from which his criminal gang takes its name.
Under his leadership, Tren de Aragua grew from a prison gang based in Tocolon Prison, where he and his co-founders Hector Guerrero Flores Imprisoned in an international crime syndicate for murder.
Changa successfully escaped Tocolon in 2015.
Three years later, he reappeared in Chile, where, according to prosecutors, he set up a money-laundering operation for the gang.
Venezuelan writer Ronna Rísquez wrote a book about Tren de Aragua, Described in BBC News Mundo article [in Spanish] Due to the expansion of the Tren de Aragua, the crime rate in Chile has increased dramatically.
Ms. Riskes said the group exploited the flow of millions of migrants from Venezuela to other Latin American countries to expand its empire.
It extorts immigrants and engages in sex trafficking, murder-for-hire and kidnapping.
Larry Changa is believed to have fled Chile in 2022, when Chilean police rounded up him.
Colombian police found him in the small town of Sicasia in Colombia’s coffee-producing region.
Officials have so far not provided any details on how Larry Changa was found but said he would be transferred to Colombia’s capital, Bogota.
The Ministry of Defense said in a tweet that the message to other crime bosses was clear: “We will continue to pursue them until we hunt them down and make them pay for their crimes.”
One of the co-founders of the still-running Aragua train is Hector Guerrero Flores, who escaped from Tocolon prison last year.
Police forces across Latin America hope Larry Changa’s arrest will provide clues to Guerrero Flores’ whereabouts.