Colombian police captured 40 members of the neo-paramilitary gang “Los Urabeños” Tuesday in three simultaneous operations.
The gang members were arrested in the departments of Antioquia, Cordoba and Norte de Santander.
Police captured three gang members during a helicopter assault on a farm in the town of Caceres, Antioquia, where it was believed that Jorge Luis Cordero Marquez, the neo-paramilitary leader in that department, was hiding.
Along with the three captured in Antioquia, police also seized three rifles, four handguns, 372 rounds of ammunition and several documents that were taken to be analyzed by police intelligence.
In Cordoba, authorities managed to capture Raul Antonio Lora, alias “Carlos,” who was connected to the murder of two college students on February 2. Carlos has also been accused of participating in at least 12 other murders, including that of a teacher whose son was linked with the gang and offered his father’s life as a means to cover a debt to alias “Rogelio,” another gang leader that had been previously captured.
The largest round-up occurred in Norte de Santander where 36 paramilitaries linked to the slaughter of 10 people in Villa del Rosario were arrested.
According to organized crime website, InSight Crime, the “Urabeños” is currently one of the more ambitious and ruthless of Colombia’s drug trafficking organizations.