Police on Wednesday arrested the nephew of “Diego Rastrojo,” an alleged top commander of Colombia’s largest drug gang “Los Rastrojos,” in the southwestern Valle de Cauca department.
Diego Rastrojo’s nephew, alias “Tomate,” was arrested in the Bolivar municipality on charges of aggravated conspiracy, as well as manufacturing and trafficking of weapons, local media reported.
According to police, Tomate was head of assassinations in the north of Valle de Cauca and directed drug trafficking activities after his uncle was arrested in Venezuela in the beginning of June.
Authorities also link Tomate to homicides and forced displacements in the Bolivar area.
Los Rastrojos have received a number of blows to their drug cartel recently. One month before Diego Rastrojo was arrested, the other supreme leader Javier Antonio Calle Serna, alias “Comba,” turned himself over to U.S. authorities on the island of Aruba, off the coast of Venezuela. In June, police also captured Rastrojos ringleader Hector Jairo Bermudes Rios, known as “El Paisa,” the alleged leader of local operations, extortions and assassinations.
The only remaining member of the original Rastrojos command structure is Comba’s brother, Luis Enrique Calle Serna.