Peru's National Police (Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) and the country's intelligence services will receive radiolocation software designed to trace cellphones used to make extortion calls, coordinate kidnappings and plan contract killings, the Presidencia del Consejo de Ministros (PCM), Peru's cabinet office, announced on its official X account.
The government said it would move quickly to track the location of phone lines linked to extortion, kidnapping and contract killing, known in Peru as sicariato. It added that it would detect, cut and block mobile signals used from prisons and juvenile detention centers.
Interior Minister César Astudillo Salcedo said the government would roll out new technological and legal tools to track extortionists who use mobile apps to commit their crimes. He said the move would strengthen the PNP's capacity to respond to organized crime.
Changes to Telecommunications Law
Astudillo said the government was seeking to update the legal framework so the PNP could use tracking, location, geolocation and blocking tools against communication equipment used by criminals employing new methods.
He said much of the extortion carried out in Peru happens through messaging apps that cannot currently be traced, and that police need tools suited to that reality so they can locate offenders and act against them.
He said the proposal would amend Legislative Decree 1182, which governs the use of telecommunications data to identify, locate and geolocate equipment, and Legislative Decree 1338, which created the National Terminal Equipment Registry. The plan also calls for tighter controls on the sale of mobile phone SIM cards, part of a broader effort to close off the ways criminal organizations use mobile devices to operate.
FBI and DEA Help Track Wanted Suspects
The announcement follows the arrest of two men accused of holding leadership roles in organized crime, carried out with the help of American and Bolivian authorities. Jhonsson Smith Cruz Torres, known as "Jhonsson Pulpo," was captured on September 1 in a property in La Paz, Bolivia. His arrest came hours after four people were killed following the kidnapping of a businessman in Trujillo, in northern Peru.
That operation was the result of months of joint intelligence work between Peruvian police, Bolivian police, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Days before Cruz Torres was captured, a separate international operation involving Peru's Special Sensitive Team against Transnational Organized Crime (Eesccot-PNP), the Colombian National Police and the DEA detained Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, alias "Luisito" or "Nairobi," in Bogotá, Colombia. He is accused of being one of the leaders of Tren de Aragua, a transnational criminal organization that originated in Venezuela. Police said his arrest was made possible through the exchange of information, international coordination and special investigative techniques.
Investigators say Pérez Nieto held a leadership and coordination role over illicit activities including extortion, arms trafficking and killings carried out by the organization in both Peru and the United States.
US Ambassador Confirms Continued Cooperation
The United States Ambassador to Peru, Bernie Navarro, confirmed that both arrests were made possible by cooperation between the FBI and DEA and authorities in Peru, Colombia and Bolivia.
Navarro said the US government would continue supporting specialized PNP units, whose members work alongside American experts from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the DEA and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).
This cooperation strengthens the ability to investigate and pursue criminal organizations that operate across borders, through information sharing, specialized assistance, training, technology and tools to confront increasingly complex criminal methods, according to officials.
Astudillo said the FBI helps with training, logistics and technology, adding that its support is aimed mainly at training for Peru's National Police.
