Colombia’s chief of police on Wednesday offered a reward of $40,000 for information about members of the country’s most powerful drug trafficking group, “Los Urabeños,” held responsible for the recent killings of three policemen.
PROFILE: Urabeños
The chief of police, General Rodolfo Palomino, said that this group has carried out a series of attacks against members of the Police. In response the government is offering a reward of up to $40,000 for information leading to the capture and prosecution of members of the Urabeños.
According to Palomino, following the recent capture of alias “Tierra,” the fourth in command of the neo-paramilitary drug trafficking organization, locally aligned criminals carried out a series of indiscriminate attacks against several on-duty policemen in the northwestern Antioquia state where the group originates from.
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On Saturday, two alleged Urabeños were killed and seven arrested, one of which was Tierra, that has since sparked the police attacks, according to Palomino.
MORE: 2 ‘Urabeños’ killed, 7 arrested in northwest Colombia anti-narcotics operation
“Information provided to help good Colombians capture the members of this gang who have done so much damage to the country will receive the reward,” Palomino announced. The Police Chief warned that there will be no respite in the offensive against the criminal gang, “the souls of our murdered comrades demand that we continue,” said Palomino.
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The Urabeños were formed in the first decade of this century from mid-level commanders of paramilitary organization AUC. While the paramilitaries formally demobilized, mid-level commanders formed criminal organizations like the “Urabeños” and the “Paisas” that sought to take over the AUC’s drug routes.
Following years of infighting between the different neo-paramilitary groups, the Urabeños are the largest of groups. The organization controls most drug trafficking along the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Colombia.