Thanks to a thorough and permanent joint, coordinated and inter-agency intelligence and investigation, the military forces and the National Police, in coordination with the Office of the Attorney General of the nation, in the in recent hours, dismantled a structure of the residual organized armed group (GAO-R) Second Marquetalia in northern Cauca, with the capture of 12 individuals. According to what the authorities reported, among the captures there is Carlos Andrés Castillo Diaz, known by the alias Meneo; he would be the main ringleader of this criminal structure.
The operation was carried out within the framework of the Bicentenary plan Heroes Of Freedom, in which soldiers of the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group) of Cauca and the Infantry Battalion No. 7 General José Hilario López, units of the twenty-ninth Brigade, of the specific command of Cauca, CECAU, the Colombian Air Force, the Sijín of Cauca police and the Attorney General's office.
This result was possible thanks to the effective and permanent monitoring of military intelligence, which led to find the place where the 12 individuals were subsequently captured, following early alerts No. 026 of 2018 and 018 of 2020.
The most important capture is alias Meneo, who had an arrest warrant for the crimes of association to commit aggravated crimes for extortion purposes and manufacturing, trafficking and carrying of weapons.
He had a wide criminal record, including his participation in the collection of money produced by drug trafficking, the collection of extortions money in the municipalities of Suarez and Morales, in Cauca, the attack in December de 2018 against a military base in the town Salvajina, municipality of Suárez, the attack against the Security Forces and several targeted homicides in the municipalities of Cajibío, Piendamó and Morales.
Currently he would be serving as main ringleader of the GAO-R Second Marquetalia in replacement of Alias Grande, who was captured in previous days.
Along with these individuals it was possible to find abundant war material corresponding to seven assault rifles, a grenade launcher, two short weapons, abundant ammunition of different calibers and military accessories to be used exclusively by military forces. Those captured and the war materials were put into custody of authorities.
“This is a very important result that certainly weakens the intentions of the criminal alias Ivan Marquez to expand in the region, because the elements help to show that those captured were in the process of organizing this structure, through the purchase of equipment and weapons with money from drug trafficking”, said Defense Minister Holmes Trujillo.
