The Colombian police said they will pay a reward to two informants that helped secure the arrest of Diego Perez Henao, alias “Diego Rastrojo,” a top commander in Colombia’s largest drug gang, “Los Rastrojos,” who was arrested Sunday in Venezuela.
Deputy Director of the national police, Gen. Leon Riaño said in a press conference that the government will pay two human sources who were instrumental in capturing the drug lord.
The U.S. government offered $5 million for information leading to the drug lord’s arrest, while the Colombian government offered another $656 thousand.
Riaño provided more specifics about the operation and told reporters that cooperation between Colombian police and the Venezuelan National Anti-Drug Office led to Diego Rastrojo’s capture.
According to Riaño, the Rastrojo leader was arrested by ten men posing as farm workers in the eastern Venezuelan state of Barinas.
Riaño also told reporters that Los Rastrojos “would now be under the leadership of Luis Enrique Calle Serna,” another of the supreme leaders of the criminal organization.
“We are not interested in who leads the group,” said Riaño, emphasizing that the Colombian police would capture the drug the gangs’ leaders no matter where they were.
Rastrojo used to be a key member of the Norte del Valle cartel until, under the leadership of “Jabon,” the Rastrojos separated from the cartel and began their own drug trafficking organization in 2002.
The now-arrested suspect is thought to have ordered the killing of Jabon in 2008, after which the Comba brothers– as Luis Enrique Calle Serna and his brother Javier Calle Serna are known– took over the drug trafficking organization, appointing Rastrojo as their military commander.