A member of the Tren de Aragua gang, who fled Chile, arrested in Murcia | Spain

The National Police arrested in the Murcian town of Molina de Segura (77,500 inhabitants) an alleged member of the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang of Venezuelan origin, wanted by Chilean justice, as reported on Wednesday by the Ministry of the Interior. The arrest of the fugitive, 38 years old and of Venezuelan origin, took place on November 7, just nine days after another police operation killed 13 other alleged members of this violent organization who allegedly tried to create criminal structures in Barcelona and Madrid to begin establishing themselves in Europe. In total, in the last year and a half, 16 alleged members of this gang have been arrested in Spain, famous for the atrocities it commits to subdue rival groups and which already operates in at least eight South American countries.

The investigation to arrest the fugitive, conducted jointly by the General Commissariat for Information (CGI) and the Fugitive Tracking Section of the National Police, began last July after receiving a request for collaboration from the Chilean authorities due to the suspicion that the woman was hiding in Spain after having managed to evade a police operation carried out last June in this country, in which 52 members of the group called Hermanos Cartier, a faction of the Train, were arrested Aragua who operated in the region. Chilean from Los Lagos.

According to the investigation, the prisoner would have been integrated into the structure of the organization responsible for laundering the money obtained by the group through kidnappings, scams and extortion in Chile through a network of shell companies and the use of bank accounts and cards that allowed the funds to be withdrawn from that country after converting them into cryptocurrencies. Through this system the criminal group moved 138 million dollars (just over 119 million euros). In this South American country, acts of particular cruelty are attributed to the Aragua Train, such as the murder of two people in the city of Arica, who were buried alive.

Finally, the National Police’s investigations made it possible to locate the woman in Molina de Segura, where she was arrested as she left the house where she was hiding. It is not the first time that a fugitive from the Aragua Train has been arrested in Spain. Last June Luis José RR, alias Mamera30 years old, considered the alleged leader of one of the factions of this criminal group that operated in Peru, known as Los Gallegos. He was accused of participating in the murder of a member of a rival organization with which he disputed control of prostitution in Lima.

Emerging 20 years ago, the Tren de Aragua is considered the most powerful criminal organization in Venezuela and is attributed to all types of crimes, from human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation to drug trafficking, including arms trafficking, extortion, kidnapping or contract killings. Already infiltrated in several South American countries, in Chile it is considered a threat to national security. In July, the US State Department offered a reward of five million dollars (4.3 million euros) for any information leading to the arrest of its leader, Héctor Rustherford Guerrero Flores, Warrior boywhose whereabouts are unknown since he escaped from prison in 2023. Washington authorities consider this group a transnational organization “dedicated to terrorism.”