A leader of notorious criminal gang “Los Urabeños” has been captured on Wednesday on a luxurious property near the Venezuelan border.
The gang ringleader, Oscar Alejandro Sandoval, alias “Candado,” was detained Wednesday as a result of a police operation that began in July.
The operation called “Operation Fisherman” was carried out on July 5 in an attempt to apprehend Candado and several other Urabeños members in the Cucuta capital of the northern Norte de Santander department. According to the police report, Candado managed to escape and flee the country.
Since the failed Candado arrest, the gangster had been hiding in the state of San Antonio, Venezuela where he “mobilized 150 armed men under his command” before returning to Colombia. Upon return police located and detained Candado in the town of La Dorada in the northern Caldas department. He was arrested for aggravated conspiracy and possession of illegal arms and ammunition.
Allegedly, Candado was receiving direct orders from the supreme commander of the Urabeños gang who has more than a $1 million reward on his head, known as “Otoniel.” Candado also apparently had close ties to the rebel-turned-drug-trafficker “Megateo,” who is labelled as “one of the most feared and belligerent men” in northern Colombia.
The Urabeños are a neo-paramilitary group from the north of Colombia that has violently taken control of the country’s Caribbean coast following the demobilization of the paramilitary AUC.