BOGOTA — The Colombian police confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of a Venezuelan citizen whom they identified as the alleged supplier of drugs, weapons and explosives to the Aragua Train, a transnational criminal organization originating in Venezuela.
Juan Antonio Gil Díaz, alias “Toño”, was arrested in a rural area of Paratebueno, a small municipality in the center of the country, where It had a recreational complex with play areas, a swimming pool and meadows with horses and cattle.
“He was building his own version of the mythical Hacienda Nápoles,” the police said in a statement, referring to the eccentric private zoo built in the 1980s by drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.
The police described him as an “invisible drug trafficker” for managing to blend in since 2020 in Colombia as a rancher in the area in which he used armored vehicles and was escorted by motorcycles. Gil Díaz would have used front men to acquire the land in Paratebueno, according to the investigation.
Along with Gil Díaz, four men accused of leading his security team were captured. Additionally, more than $13,000 in cash was seized.
“Capture order”
Gil Díaz was wanted through a red Interpol circular, which notifies police around the world about people who are fugitives from justice, for the crimes of drug trafficking and criminal association.
“The active inter-institutional and international cooperation made it possible to establish that, from clandestine runways located in Meta and Casanare, he transported drug shipments to Venezuela,” the police added.
Colombia was alerted by the French authorities about the presence of Gil Díaz in its territory, who they were tracking as allegedly responsible for a shipment of eight tons of cocaine seized in French Guyana.
The detainee is also accused of being an associate of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero, alias “Niño Guerrero”, top leader of the Aragua Train, who is a fugitive from Venezuelan justice and is also wanted by Chile for kidnappings, robberies and extortion.
According to the Colombian police, Gil Díaz fled his native Venezuela after the authorities of that country “dismantled two drug collection centers and seized more than 52 rifles, ammunition, four boats and a semi-submersible.”
Source: AP
