Dismantling of “Los de la Quinta” gang, contract killers on Colombia’s borders Brazil and Peru

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After a 9-month investigation, the National Police, in collaboration with its Directorate of Criminal Investigation and INTERPOL (DIJIN), in coordination with the Attorney General’s Office, achieved in the city of Bogotá and in the municipality of Leticia, four arrests and seven indictments of members of the organized criminal group “Los de la Quinta”, which was dedicated to contract killings on the borders of Colombia with Brazil and Peru.

Several assassination operations on the border with the two neighboring countries led the Colombian authorities to undertake an investigation that lasted approximately nine months, in which more than 40 technical surveillance controls were used, which uncovered several assassination operations in the municipality of Leticia and others near the border, which were executed under the subcontracting model, so as not to arouse suspicion.

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According to the statement issued by the DIJIN, “Los de la Quinta”, as they called themselves, had approximately 16 members, among them their leader “Lacho”, captured in the city of Bogotá, where he had been transferred to be treated in a medical center due to the seriousness of injuries sustained in an armed confrontation in the Costa Rica neighborhood of the city of Leticia.

Major General Fernando Murillo, Director of Criminal Investigation and INTERPOL, announced that this man was responsible for more than five homicides in the last three months in the sector, associated with controlling drug trafficking routes to Manaus the control of drug micro-trafficking in the triple border.

Following this capture, the operation also captured “La Profe”, a romantic partner of “Lacho”, “Camarón”, a logistics leader of the criminal organization, and “Pato”, a woman in charge of providing weapons and ammunition to the assassins.

Regarding “La Profe”, the authorities established that she worked as a primary school teacher in an educational institution in the city of Leticia, where she had been providing this service since 2003 in several schools of the departmental education secretariat.

“This woman had already been captured in the act previously, carrying two firearms along with “Pato”, but at the time was released because the hearing of guarantees determined in due course that “La Profe” did not represent any danger to society, detailed the report of the DIJIN.

The four captured were charged by prosecutors with the crimes of aggravated homicide, conspiracy to commit a crime and carrying, trafficking, and manufacturing of firearms and explosives, and the Judge of Control of Guarantees legalized their arrests and issued intramural security measures in prisons in the cities of Bogotá and Leticia.

With the capture of these individuals, it was possible to clarify the perpetration of several homicides and attempted homicides in the triple border sector, especially in the city of Leticia.