The organization is dedicated to drug trafficking and countless crimes such as homicides, migrant smuggling, extortion, and other crimes
By
Cristián Torresfrom Santiago, Chile
Officials of the Investigative Police with a detainee related to the “Tren de Aragua” and drugs seized in the March 2022 operation
The Chilean Prosecutor’s Office confirmed the existence ofa “base of operations” of the dangerous drug trafficking mega-gang “Tren de Aragua” a few kilometers from Santiago. The authorities did not rule out that this place had been used to recruit members for the group.
Thus was briefly expressed by José Uribe, chief prosecutor of the Unit Regional Criminal Analysis and Investigative Focus (Sacfi), who highlighted that this “base of operations” was located in the communes of “Quilpué, Viña del Mar”, the latter located just 120 kilometers from Santiago.
“We have a concrete fact that, basically, through the investigation of the police in the north of our country, it was possible to arrest a couple of members of the ‘Tren de Aragua’, who are in preventive detention, some of them even in our region. They would have their base of operations in Quilpué, Viña del Mar,” Uribe stated.
Prosecutor Uribe also confirmed thatThe police are constantly tracking the “Tren de Aragua” and other criminal gangs. “At the same time, we are doing a permanent survey of these bands, not only the ‘Tren de Aragua’, but other bands with similar characteristics, in order to detect them, see in which area they are operating and research with the Investigative Police (PDI),” said the persecutor.
The organization “Tren de Aragua” is a dangerous gang dedicated to drug trafficking and endless crimes such as homicides, migrant smuggling, extortion, and other crimes. Its origin is Venezuelan and comes from the state of Aragua. According to the authorities, it is believed that the group would have its main base in the Tocorón prison, the most dangerous prison in that country.
The “Train of Aragua” would operate practically throughout Venezuela and its presence has been investigated in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile. According to InSight Crime, a platform dedicated to criminal investigation, It is believed that in 2018 alone the gang had 200 members and that it currently operates with more than 2,700 criminals.
Aragua Train in Chile
The ” Aragua Train” in Chile it would operate in various cities of the country, both in the northern and central regions. In the photograph, another detainee after the operation deployed in March 2022
In Chile his presence has been dragging on since the end of 2021 when some media outlets anticipated the arrival and development of this band in the country. On Thursday, March 24, a complete operation was carried out in five cities to disrupt an operational arm of the group that operated in towns such as Iquique, Alto Hospicio, Santiago, Quillota and Quilpué.
The 7 detainees that resulted in this operation were mostly of Venezuelan nationality and were being investigated for crimes such as homicide, migrant smuggling, extortion, among others. In this way, the presence of the feared group in Chile was confirmed, which would operate in towns in the north and south of the country.
Since then the “Tren de Aragua” has been regularly seen regularly in the headlines of the police chronicle in Chile. For example, at the end of March, in the extreme south of the country, in the city of Puerto Montt, a gang dedicated to human trafficking that had ties to the “Tren de Aragua” was broken up.
While it has been less than a month that the police have been investigating the relationship of this gang with criminal acts committed in the city of Valparaíso, a town located 120 kilometers from Santiago and very close to the “operational base” of the “Tren de Aragua”.
Although the habitual crimes of this group vary according to the country, the lawyer Luis Izquiel, a professor in the Department of Criminology at the Central University of Venezuela, told BioBioChile that it is believed that the “Tren de Aragua” would have an influence on the border crossing between Bolivia and Chile.< /b>