Extortion: Authorities take action, but the siege in Atlántico does not end

Three of the most powerful blows against the criminal structures dedicated to this crime took place in the second half of this year.

In July, the police and the Public Prosecution Service, as part of an operation called ‘Fortaleza’, arrested four people accused of participating in the murder of the manager of the departmental collective public transport company Cootransoriente, Jorge Luis Merinotook place on July 1.

According to the authority Gustavo Padilla Arias, aka Huesito, and Julio Durán Bornacelli, aka Caracasthey acted on July 1 after Karín Chirino Charki, alias Karín, gave them the message sent from prison by Fabianys Antonio Ayala Vásquez, alias Fabián, an old acquaintance of the local authorities for his criminal activities in the ‘Rastrojos Costeños’ .

The same month, five people emerged from the punishment cell of a man known by the alias of Al Qaeda and at the service of Carlos Alberto Ortiz Blanco, aka Cachetes, and Jairo Rafael Sanz Zambrano, alias JJ, both members of ‘los Costeños’. According to the Public Prosecution Service, these planned the attacks on the gas stations and Siglo XXI.

And in August, Mayger Borré Martínez, known to authorities as ‘Son Borré’because of his relationship with Juan Manuel Borré Barreto, alias Javier or Pistónformer member of the AUC and founder of the ‘Rastrojos Costeños’.

The young man, 24 years old and born when his father was in the AUC, would, according to information from the police, be part of the structure of the ‘Coastal stubble’ at the level of “extortion collector,” along with six other characters who were part of the 18 captured in that attack on the organization.

In this sense, the National Police will announce this this year 289 criminals have been arrested in Atlántico this year, between January and October, for that crime. The figure surpassed that of 2022, as 252 arrests were made in the department from January to December.