Colombian police said Tuesday they have arrested 12 members of neo-paramilitary drug trafficking organization “Los Urabeños” in the north of the country.
Eleven of the suspected neo-paramilitaries were arrested in the south of the Bolivar department where they are linked to 10 murders committed in the past few days.
The alleged criminals are also accused of involvement in the extortion of local miners, cattle ranchers and businesses.
In the coastal city of Cartagena, police arrested a twelfth alleged member of the neo-paramilitary group. The suspect, Emilio Jose Garcia Anillo, is a suspected ringleader of the group in the neighboring department of Sucre.
The Urabeños are one of Colombia’s largest drug trafficking organizations and the biggest group that emerged from the demobilized paramilitary organization AUC. The group is suspected of having at least 2,000 members and is mostly active along Colombia’s Caribbean coast.