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Colombian Law Enforcement

An suspected chief of the violent branch of the Venezuelan organized crime group Aragua Train has been apprehended in a collaborative effort featuring Colombia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

The national law enforcement announced that Márquez Morales - referred to as Caracas - was arrested in the city of Valledupar and asserted that he played a central role in handling the operations and finances for the group for racketeering, drug trafficking, and smuggling.

Tren de Aragua has been focused on by US President President Trump, who declared it a extremist organization and sent back in excess of 250 people he claimed were members of the gang to a prison in Central America.

Colombia's head of national police, Triana Beltrán, stated that Mr Márquez Morales was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice, which is a request to law enforcement globally to apprehend someone pending extradition.

Information of the detention came to light amid persistent disagreements between the United States and the Venezuelan government over the American leadership's campaign against narcotics in South America.

The US has dispatched military ships to the Caribbean Sea and in the previous month, bombed ships which the president claimed were smuggling drugs, apparently originating in the South American nation to the United States.

The American leadership has accused Venezuela's leader President Maduro of being in league with narcotics syndicates and is providing a reward for intel resulting in his apprehension up to $50 million (37 million pounds).

Maduro has strongly rejected Washington's accusations and has defended his administration's measures to counter drug trafficking.

Connected Issues

• The South American nation
• The former US president
• Illegal drug market