Colombian officials captured an alleged leader of the Rastrojos criminal gang, Ariel Osorio Garcia, alias ‘Pajaro,’ reports the Colombian newspaper La Opinion.
Osorio, who authorities said ran an assassination ring for the group, is implicated in the murder of 70 people in Cucuta and the surrounding metropolitan area. Acting on an local tip, metropolitan police stormed a residence in the neighborhood of Seville, where he was found in the company of his girlfriend, a 15-year-old minor. Police also recovered six pistols, 106 cartridges of various calibers, two fragmentation grenades and two pairs of metal handcuffs, all of which they say were used to assassinate the Rastrojos’ rivals in the area. Cucuta is a major corridor used for trafficking cocaine through Venezuela and contraband into Colombia.