A camp allegedly belonging to members of the drug gang “Oficina de Envigado” was discovered by anti-narcotics police in a rural mountain area of central Colombia, reported newspaper El Tiempo Thursday.
Last week, police were tipped off by informants who identified themselves as members of the Oficina de Envigado. Apparently, allies of aliases “Sebastian” and “Beto,” who are important members of the Oficina de Envigado drug cartel, had used the camp as a hideout and as an office for extortion money.
With the assistance of helicopters, anti-narcotics police located and captured Diego Alejandro Montoya Lopez and Severo Benavides Barrios, who are believed to be members of the demobilized paramilitary group AUC.
Authorities discovered nine weapons, a kitchen, and various bedrooms. One of the rooms allegedly contained a bed with handcuffs attached to the bedpost, which the authorities used as evidence to confirm that extortion victims were confined in the camp.
The infighting between factions of Medellin‘s drug cartel Oficina de Envigado has created a conflicted drug operation. An internal feud between a faction headed by Maximiliano Bonilla, alias “Valenciano,” and Erick Vargas, alias “Sebastian,” is responsible for much of the recent drug related violence in Medellin.
Loyalties in the Oficina de Envigado are weak, and the cartel is in a constant state of flux between internal battles and alliances.