Five members were arrested, including alias Richard, the alleged coordinator of the murder of a merchant in that municipality.
A coordinated operation conducted by troops of the Chicamocha Military GAULA (ANTI-EXTORTION AND ANTI-KIDNAPPING GROUP), the GAULA of the Police and the Attorney General's Office of the Nation carried out in the municipality of Piedecuesta, department of Santander, led to a powerful heavy blow against the gang known as Cordillera, with the arrest of five alleged members, including alias Richard and alias Orejas, accused of crimes of terrorism, trafficking, manufacturing and carrying narcotics, as well as illegal carrying of firearms and ammunition.
Alias Richard had approximately 10 years of criminal experience and had belonged to the Nicolás Antonio Urango Reyes Substructure of the GAO Clan del Golfo. Currently, within this gang known as La Cordillera, he apparently was the coordinator of extortions and homicides in Piedecuesta and would be the main responsible for intimidation against merchants of the formal and informal sector, so he allegedly coordinated the murder of five people in the municipality, including citizen Emiro Díaz Rincón, which occurred on June 28, 2025.
In the same way, alias Richard apparently would be coordinating the distribution of narcotics in the municipality, in the same way in charge of disseminating intimidating pamphlets signed by the sp called Cordillera and would handle a criminal income estimated at 80 million pesos per month, product of the collection of money from extortions made against merchants and people in general. He would in the same way be responsible for obtaining firearms and recruiting new members to strengthen this criminal structure.
Those arrested had a fragmentation grenade, 30 pamphlets alluding to the criminal organization, 7 cartridges of different ammunition, 5100 grams of narcotics of different denomination, cell phones, a precision scale and several elements used for the dosage of narcotics. The material found and the arrested were put into custody of the authorities for the respective judicial processes.
With operations like this, Colombian National Army reaffirms its commitment to the protection of citizens and the frontal fight against criminal structures that attack the security and tranquility of the municipality of Piedecuesta, in the same way, the army invites people to continue denouncing in line 147, any situation of extortion and kidnapping that threatens personal freedom.
Source: Press – National Army
