Alleged PCC hitman chief with 40 murders arrested in Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Engri Júnior de Almeida Maia, alias "Pablo Escobar de Goiás", was captured in Concepción with support from the DEA and Brazil's Federal Police.
Arrest in Santa Cruz of alleged PCC hitman leader wanted in Brazil
Engri Júnior de Almeida Maia, alias "Junior Trindale" or "Pablo Escobar de Goiás", was detained in the rural locality of Concepción, in the Santa Cruz region, according to americateve.com. The 38-year-old Brazilian fugitive is suspected of 40 murders in Brazil and a further twelve in Bolivia, where he had been living under a false identity since 2021, declared Government Minister Marco Antonio Oviedo at a press conference.
The operation was described as "high level" by police commander General Adrián Álvarez and had the support of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Brazil's Federal Police. Concepción is located in eastern Bolivia, close to the border with Brazil.
De Almeida Maia was wounded by a gunshot to the head during a previous confrontation with a rival gang, details of which the authorities did not disclose. He was subsequently arrested by police forces and remains hospitalised in a Santa Cruz clinic under heavy security.
Along with the suspect, his girlfriend and four other Brazilian citizens linked to his organisation were detained, their identities not disclosed.
According to Álvarez, the detainee "was greatly feared in criminal circles" and had allegedly organised a parallel network linked to the PCC called "Amigos del Estado" (ADE), aimed at protecting the transport of large cocaine shipments to Brazil on behalf of alleged Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset, who was captured in Santa Cruz and handed over to the DEA in March.
Various national and international reports indicate that Bolivia has become a centre of operations for international cartels, primarily the PCC and Brazil's Comando Vermelho. Both organisations, according to authorities, are waging a war for control of the routes that Marset operated in an extensive cocaine trafficking network to Brazil and Europe. Washington declared both groups foreign terrorist organisations this year.
The dispute over these routes has driven up the homicide rate and hitman killings, particularly in the Santa Cruz region, according to Bolivian police.
Minister Oviedo noted that in recent months 40 foreigners were expelled from the country, most of them identified as senior officials of these two criminal organisations.
Source: Google News BO — Crime