The institutional coordination managed to carry out a military operation in the municipality of Belalcazar, department of Caldas, which resulted in the arrest of three members of this organized crime group.
In compliance with the Ayacucho Plus Campaign Plan, the troops of the Field Artillery Battalion No.°8 San Mateo, together with the Police of the Risaralda department reported the discovery of the whereabouts of alias Don Oto, a ringleader of the GDO La Cordillera in the rural area of the department of Caldas.
Members of the Military Forces arrived at the village of El Águila, in the municipality of Belalcázar, to carry out a search warrant to the farm where alias Don Oto was hiding, who, in the same way, had an arrest warrant for the crime of association to commit crimes.
This individual had an extensive criminal record since 2011, with multiple entries for crimes such as trafficking, manufacturing or carrying narcotics; manufacturing, trafficking or carrying weapons, homicide and association to commit crimes.
During the procedure, it was in the same way possible to arrest two other alleged members of this organized crime group in flagrante delicto for the crime of manufacturing, trafficking or carrying firearms; 2 revolver-type firearms, 22 cartridges of different calibers, 1 ballistic vest and 9 cell phones were seized. One of the individuals already had a record for the crime of trafficking, manufacturing or carrying narcotics.
The military and police intelligence establish that these three individuals would be under the orders of the offender known as Mono Amalfi, who is currently serving a sentence; so alias Don Oto would be in charge of controlling drug trafficking in this municipality and in the village of Caimalito, in Pereira; as well as the collection of money from extortions and vaccines against different illicit mining sites in the departments of Caldas, Risaralda, and Antioquia.
In addition, it was known that this faction of the La Cordillera would be looking for its expansion to different municipalities such as Belén de Umbria, Risaralda department, Viterbo and Belalcázar in Caldas.
The detainees and the items found were put into custody of the Attorney General's Office, for the preliminary hearings in which alias Don Oto and another of those arrested were sent to prison.
Source: Press – National Army
