Bolivia captures Jhon Pulpo, leader of Los Pulpos, Peruvian gang linked to kidnappings and mass killings
Bolivia arrested Jhonsson Smit Cruz Torres, alias Jhon Pulpo, leader of the Peruvian criminal gang Los Pulpos, in a joint operation with the FBI and DEA.
Bolivia captures leader of Los Pulpos following joint operation with FBI and DEA
Bolivia arrested Jhonsson Smit Cruz Torres, known as Jhon Pulpo and considered the top chief of the Peruvian criminal organisation Los Pulpos, according to a report by the Peruvian Government on Tuesday. This was reported by infobae.com, citing dispatches from the EFE news agency from Lima and La Paz.
The capture was the result of coordinated intelligence work from January between the police forces of Bolivia and Peru, together with the delegation of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), both agencies based in Lima.
Reward of 148,000 dollars and international arrest warrants
Jhon Pulpo was among the criminals most wanted by Peru. The authorities offered a reward of 500,000 soles—approximately 148,000 dollars—for information that would facilitate his arrest, as he managed the band's operations from underground.
He had an international arrest warrant for the crimes of aggravated theft with subsequent death, qualified homicide, contract killing, criminal organisation, and aggravated kidnapping, among other charges.
During the arrests, authorities found in the possession of Cruz Torres and his companion Peruvian passports and Bolivian identity documents corresponding to different identities, which will be subject to investigation.
The operation and expulsion to Peru
The national commander of the Bolivian Police, Colonel Adrián Álvarez, confirmed at a press conference in La Paz that a second member of the organisation was also captured in the same operation, identified as Gabriel Alexander Saúl M.G., 23 years old.
Álvarez described Cruz Torres as a "high-value regional target" because of the "dangerousness and the scope of criminal acts carried out with a base of operations in Peru, but which were also extended to Chile and Argentina and which it was intended to develop" in Bolivia.
The Bolivian police chief stated that Cruz Torres would be expelled that same Tuesday and handed over to Peruvian authorities.
Peru's Interior Minister, César Astudillo, said in an interview with Canal N that Jhon Pulpo was initially in La Paz and that, for security reasons, details of the transfer would be kept confidential to expedite his handover. "This main ringleader has finally been caught," Astudillo declared, adding that authorities continue working to identify and arrest the other members of the gang.
The Trujillo massacre that sparked the search
Los Pulpos are attributed with one of the most brutal incidents of organised crime recorded this year in Peru. Last Sunday, mining businessman Jenss Lara, 31 years old, was kidnapped in the early morning in Trujillo, while his four companions who were travelling in the same vehicle were murdered.
The kidnappers posed as a police operation from the Peruvian Police division against organised crime. Lara was released the next day, after which apparently the family paid part of the ransom, something that Peruvian authorities did not want to confirm.
Astudillo described Los Pulpos as an organisation of at least a hundred members led until now by Jhon Pulpo. "This capture will open many doors and many possibilities for us," the minister said, referring to the prospects that the arrest opens for dismantling the criminal network.
Source: Google News BO — Crime