Three-gang structures implicated in 35 murders hit

A total of 52 alleged members of the bands ‘La Local’, from Buenaventura, and ‘Los Kawa’ and ‘Los de La M’, from Buga, have been prosecuted in the last month by the Attorney General’s Office.

The figure was revealed by the Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, who in the last hours traveled to the Bahia Málaga Naval Base to learn first-hand about the progress in the comprehensive intervention plan in the department.

“I want to send the message to the community in Buenaventura, that these criminals are not going to hit the Port again, and that we will make this comprehensive intervention hand in hand with the Navy, the Police and the Navy in this country,” Barbosa said from the district.

The work of the authorities thus allowed the clarification of 35 homicides, 19 in Buenaventura and 16 more in Buga.

“The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation can announce to the country that we have clarified 35 homicides in a month. It is an unprecedented case with our integral intervention units,” the official stressed.

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Buenaventura: 37 prosecuted

The investigative work of the authorities allowed to establish that the criminal structure ‘La Local’, which was divided into two groups under the orders of Julio César Alegría Sánchez, alias ‘Julito’ and Diego Fernando Bustamante, alias ‘Diego Optra’, would have participation in various crimes, as well as in the affectation of security in points such as communes 11 and 12 of Buenaventura.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the criminal actions of ‘Julito’ would have started 10 years ago and although he has been deprived of liberty since April 2, he continued to commit a crime.

For its part, the entity highlighted that ‘Diego Optra’ would be an “emblematic figure in the phenomenon of drug trafficking in the Valley” and would have been involved in illegal activities for more than 15 years. Like ‘Julito’, he continued in criminal activities even after being deprived of his liberty on October 9.

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In total, the authorities prosecuted 29 alleged members of the ‘La Local’ gang implicated in 19 murders and two forced displacements. 11 of the defendants were captured during the month in which the intervention was carried out (six under the command of ‘Julito’ and five under the command of ‘Diego Optra’).

It should be noted that the others were already deprived of their liberty for conspiracy to commit a crime, for which they were prosecuted for homicide.

The Prosecutor’s Office also reported that during the search and search proceedings, they captured eight more alleged members by court order. In these operations, 22 cell phones, ammunition, weapons and 40 million pesos in cash were also seized.

Buga: 15 prosecuted

Regarding the operations carried out in Buga, the accusing entity reported the prosecution of seven alleged members of the ‘Los Kawa’ gang and eight of the ‘Los de La M’ structure.

The first criminal organization is involved in five homicides that occurred this year, while the second had participation in 11, one of them multiple, that occurred between 2019 and 2020.

All the presumed members of the gangs are being held in a prison, some of whom were already deprived of their liberty linked to other events.

The main cause of the homicides would be the dispute over territorial control of the drug trafficking business, according to the investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office.