The suspected leader of the drug gang “La Cordillera,” was killed along with two others Monday on a highway near the city of Medellin.
Police identified Oscar de Jesus Perez Cardona, alias “31,” who allegedly commanded Cordillera, a drug trafficking organization that operates primarily in the western department of Valle del Cauca. Two other men accompanying the drug lord were killed and have yet to be identified. Witnesses reported that gunmen in a car fired a rifle and a submachine gun in the killings that occurred on a road between the municipalities of La Ceja and La Union outside of Medellin.
Authorities suspect the murders were a hit carried out by rival drug gang “Los Rastrojos” and brought in two alleged members of the group for questioning.
The former commander of the La Cordillera was arrested by Ecuadorian authorities in April. The little-known group first emerged in 2008, acting as the local mafia in the western Colombian city of Pereira. They have since managed to export their business, controlling much of the local drug trade in the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, according to the country’s police.