Head of Tren de Aragua in Chile arrested in Lima with help from FBI and Peruvian police
Peruvian police arrested Saturday Ibelmery Adon Colina Maldonado, alias "R15", head of the Tren de Aragua gang in Chile, in Lima. The three-way operation involved the FBI and Chilean PDI.
Arrest in Lima of the head of Tren de Aragua operating in Chile
Peruvian police arrested Saturday Ibelmery Adon Colina Maldonado, alias "R15", aged 48, identified as the head of the Tren de Aragua gang in Chile, during a joint operation bringing together Peruvian forces, Chilean PDI and the American FBI. According to Google News FR — Crime (fr), which relayed information from RFI, the arrest took place in the bustling district of San Martín de Porres, north of Lima.
"He was captured thanks to the intervention of a police team, with the support of the FBI of the United States and the PDI of Chile", declared the Peruvian interior minister, General César Astudillo, during a press conference. Astudillo specified that the suspect would be deported to Chile. The head of criminal investigations at the police force, General Manuel Lozada, indicated that Colina Maldonado's entry into Peruvian territory from Chile had been "irregular" and that the suspect was in possession of forged documents.
The Venezuelan was notably sought for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and sequestration, in 2024, of Ronald Ojeda, a Venezuelan opposition figure residing in Chile. This arrest takes place within a framework of reinforced cooperation: the FBI and Peruvian police had signed an agreement in May intended to "tackle transnational organised crime through cooperation and specialised investigations".
Regional crackdown in cascade
The apprehension of "R15" came two days after a similar operation in Bogotá. On Thursday, Colombian police arrested Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, alias "Páez" or "Nairobi", identified as one of the presumed leaders of Tren de Aragua in Peru. The two arrests illustrate growing regional coordination against an organisation whose ramifications extend well beyond Venezuela.
Moreover, twelve members of the gang had recently been sentenced to heavy sentences in Chile, according to information relayed in parallel.
A transnational organisation born in a Venezuelan prison
Tren de Aragua was constituted in 2014 in the Venezuelan state of the same name, inside Tocorón prison. According to intelligence reports, it has since expanded to eight South American countries, including Panama, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Brazil. The United States classifies it as a terrorist organisation.
Journalist Ronna Rísquez, author of El Tren de Aragua, the gang that is revolutionising organised crime in Latin America (Dahbar editions, 2023), describes a group involved in "more than 20 criminal activities, from drug trafficking to migrant trafficking to the mining sector". The think tank InSight Crime, specialising in organised crime, qualifies it in an October 2023 report as "one of the fastest-growing security threats in South America". Its expansion beyond Venezuelan borders began in 2018.
The gang is accused of human trafficking, assassinations, kidnappings, theft, drug trafficking and extortion. On the route of Venezuelan exiles, it would offer "packages including accommodation and food throughout the journey", reports InSight Crime. In December 2023, Peru dismantled a human trafficking network linked to Los Hijos de Dios, a faction of Tren de Aragua: around sixty victims were identified.
Attempted dismantling and persistence of the group
In September 2023, the Venezuelan interior and justice minister, Admiral Remigio Ceballos, had announced the "dismantling" of the gang after the resumption of control of Tocorón prison — which then housed, according to Rísquez, "a swimming pool, a zoo and shops". The operation had mobilised around 11,000 police and military personnel; approximately one thousand are said to have died, according to Caracas.
Despite this operation, the organisation continued its international expansion. Former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo, in the preface to Rísquez's book, believes that "security systems, based on national hierarchies, are not prepared to face criminal networks that cross borders". The arrest of "R15" in Lima bears witness precisely to the multilateral cooperation that these authorities now seek to put in place to counter this type of threat.
Source: Google News FR — Crime (fr)