Colombia Police Raids in Two Antioquia Towns Lead to 25 Captures and 31 Searches, the President Says

COLOMBIA · SECURITY

Police searched 31 properties in two Antioquia towns. The president says 25 people were held, and prosecutors now take over.

Colombia’s president says Antioquia raids in the towns of Amalfi and Santa Rosa de Osos ended with 25 people captured. Police carried out 31 search operations and handed the detainees to prosecutors.

What happened in the two towns

Colombia’s National Police carried out 31 search operations in Amalfi and Santa Rosa de Osos. Both towns sit in Antioquia department, north and northeast of Medellín.

Officers captured 25 people in total. Nineteen were held on court orders and six were caught in the act.

President Abelardo de la Espriella announced the operation on X on the night of Tuesday 22 September 2026. Colombian outlets carried the same figures the same evening.

The president named alias Santa María, also called Señor, as an urban boss in Amalfi. He said the man supplied street drug outlets and coordinated targeted killings.

The searches covered both urban and rural parts of the two towns, Semana reported. Amalfi lies in Antioquia’s northeast, and Santa Rosa de Osos in the north.

The president said the operation hit the groups’ armed wing, their finances and their criminal business. He said those he called narcoterrorists would fall one after another.

Which groups were targeted

The operation named two long-standing Antioquia structures, La Oficina and Los Chatas. Both are associated in Colombian coverage with street drug sales and armed enforcement.

La Oficina began as an enforcement and debt-collection arm of the Medellín cartel. It now works as a loose federation of smaller groups rather than one command.

Los Chatas is a criminal group long linked to Bello, a city next to Medellín. Earlier police operations there led to arrests of people described as its members.

Colombian outlets link alias Santa María to La Oficina and alias Cutu to Los Chatas. Cutu was described as a drug trafficking organiser in Santa Rosa de Osos.

La Oficina has also been tied in earlier reporting to extortion, gambling and money laundering around Medellín. Those activities were not among the ones listed for this operation.

What police say they seized

The Antioquia raids produced a seizure list of 10,250 doses of marijuana, bazuco and cocaine. Bazuco is a cheap cocaine by-product sold in Colombian street markets.

Officers also took four firearms and 70 cartridges of different calibres. They seized more than 19 million Colombian pesos (about US$5,900) in cash.

The dollar figure uses 23 September 2026 rates of about 3,200 pesos to the dollar. No full official inventory has been published beyond the items the president listed.

What happens next in the courts

The 25 detainees and the seized material were handed to the Fiscalía General de la Nación — the Attorney General’s Office. Semana reported that step on the night of the announcement.

Being captured is not the same as being charged in Colombia. A capture can rest on a court order or on being caught in the act, and the case then moves to prosecutors.

A judge must first review whether each capture was lawful. Prosecutors then set out the accusations at a hearing known as an imputación.

No charges have been made public so far. The specific crimes each person will face have not been listed.

Police have not ruled out further captures while inquiries continue in the area. No date has been given for the court hearings.

Why the Antioquia raids matter for expats and investors

Medellín is Antioquia’s capital and a base for many remote workers, retirees and foreign investors. The two towns raided lie well outside the city.

Street-level enforcement rarely changes national risk ratings or property prices. It does show where the new government is directing police effort.

For residents, the practical signal is steady police activity in the department’s smaller towns. Nothing in this operation speaks to conditions in Medellín itself.

Investors should note that no court has ruled on any of these cases. Everyone captured is presumed innocent until a judge decides.

The wider security push in Colombia

President de la Espriella took office on 7 August 2026 promising a hard line on armed groups. He has publicised police results on social media since then.

In the same week, he ordered troops into Santa Marta after unrest linked to the group Los Pachenca. That action is separate from the Antioquia raids.

The Santa Marta deployment followed the killing of a senior Pachenca figure and days of unrest. Both episodes fell in the same week of the government’s security drive.

One operation of this size does not by itself change conditions across the department. It is one of several police actions the government has publicised this month.

The next clear marker will be what prosecutors charge and what a judge accepts. Until then, the account rests on what police and the president have said.

More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where did the raids take place?

In Amalfi and Santa Rosa de Osos, two towns in Antioquia department. Both lie outside Medellín, to the north and northeast.

How many people were captured, and what was taken?

Twenty-five people: 19 on court orders and six caught in the act. Police listed 10,250 drug doses, four guns, 70 cartridges and 19 million pesos (about US$5,900).

Have the 25 people been charged?

Not yet. They were handed to the Attorney General’s Office, where a judge reviews the arrests before prosecutors set out charges.

Sources: Colombian National Police operation announced by President Abelardo de la Espriella on X, 22 September 2026; Semana; El Tiempo; Noticias RCN; Infobae; La FM; Asuntos Legales; El Colombiano.