Thanks to operations against the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Clan del Golfo, the Colombian Navy, through the Caribbean Naval Force, in coordination with the Attorney General's Office, and the Criminal Investigation and Interpol Section of the National Police, reported the arrest alias Piña, alleged ringleader of the Aristides Meza Páez Structure and the Erlín Pino Duarte Substructure.
The operation, carried out in a rural area of the municipality of Arboletes, department of Antioquia, directly hits the command and control of this criminal organization. Alias Piña is accused of directing high-level criminal operations, including the terrorist attack perpetrated on January 25, 2024 against River Units of the Colombian Navy, in which a Professional Navy man was killed. In the same way, he would be one of the closest members to alias Jefferson, the maximum ringleader of the Aristides Meza Paez Structure of this gang.
With about 15 years inside the GAO, alias Piña would have participated in armed confrontations against the GAO ELN for the control of criminal routes in the south of Bolívar, causing fear and displacement in the inhabitants of the region, in addition to exercising directing roles in illicit activities such as drug trafficking, extortion and illicit exploitation of mining sites. His experience positioned him as one of the main coordinators of organized crime in the Colombian Caribbean.
This result represents a decisive blow to the criminal capacity of the GAO Clan del Golfo in the department of Bolívar and limits the coercive capacity of one of its most belligerent structures.
The Colombian Navy reaffirms its commitment to security, the institutional control of the territory and the protection of the inhabitants, maintaining the pressure against the actors that generate violence that hit the tranquility of the communities in the Colombian Caribbean.
Source: Press – Navy of Colombia
