After a three year search, police in Cali arrested the leader of drug trafficking gang “Los Combas,” reports Caracol Radio. The head narco, Jorge Alberto Rengifo Lopez alias “Señor de la guerra” is wanted for extradition to the U.S.
An informant, who was paid 150 million COP (almost $80,000), tipped off the police as to the whereabouts of Rengifo Lopez.
Police director, General Calle Luis Gilberto Martinez, confimed that Rengifo Lopez is wanted for extradition by a New York court for money laundering and drug trafficking, and said that the druglord had the logistical capacity to move large amounts of money between Central America and Colombia.
Rengifo Lopez earned his nickname “Señor de la guerra,” or warlord, after he coordinated the shipment of 4,000 Chinese rifles from Central America to Colombia, in order to strengthen fellow criminal gang “Los Rastrojos.”
The drug kingpin rose through the ranks of “Los Combas” and became involved in large purchases of assault rifles and hallucinogens, while building contacts in the U.S., Panama, Caracas, Miami, Sao Paulo and Quito, among others.
This arrest comes less than a month after the arrest of 14 Los Rastrojos members and the busting of an international arms smuggling ring. Two months ago seven members of Los Combas and Los Rastrojos were arrested in a multi-lateral clampdown known as “Operation Sea Clamp.”