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() Thirty people, including several suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang, have been indicted in Colorado for federal offenses, including drug trafficking, firearms violations and murder-for-hire schemes.
In the undercover operation that began roughly 10 months ago, agents seized 69 firearms and drugs that included fentanyl, “pink cocaine” and methamphetamine, according to indictments from the U.S. attorney for the District of Colorado.
“Many of these firearms have been linked to shootings in Denver and Aurora, including carjackings, robberies, and drive-by shootings,” prosecutors allege.
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Thirty people, including eight suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang, have been indicted in Colorado for federal offenses, according to indictments from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado. (Credit: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) -
Thirty people, including eight suspected members of the Tren de Aragua gang, have been indicted in Colorado for federal offenses, according to indictments from the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado. (Credit: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives)
Nearly all 28 of the defendants are in the U.S., though four are not yet in custody.
Two others, Luis Fernando Uribe-Torrealba and Luis Henriquez-Charaima, both 29, are in federal custody in Colombia.
One defendant, a Venezuelan national, allegedly bragged to undercover officers that the same people carrying out crimes in viral videos from Colorado apartment complexes were the ones he planned to use in murder-for-hire plots.
The attorney’s office alleged that many of Tren de Aragua’s members have unlawfully entered the United States and have been linked to murder, kidnapping, extortion and human and drug trafficking, local affiliate KDVR reported.
2 alleged TdA members in Colombian custody
Henriquez-Charaima and Uribe-Torrealba entered the U.S. in 2023 to expand synthetic drug trafficking and stockpiled an arsenal in Denver to smuggle weapons across Latin America, according to Carlos Fernando Triana Beltrán, the mayor general for Colombia’s national police.
Last March, the pair allegedly fled to Colombia to “evade U.S. authorities.”
Colombian police say they’ve arrested 46 Tren de Aragua members, calling it part of a wider effort to dismantle the violent gang before it expands further in the United States.
What is Tren de Aragua?
Tren de Aragua is a transnational criminal organization that the Trump administration has designated a “foreign terrorist organization” and slapped with sanctions.
The Venezuela-based gang’s members have been charged with rape, murder, kidnapping and extortion, among others.
Tren de Aragua has been targeted by law enforcement over the duration of the last year.
Interestingly enough, not many wanted to admit the gang was present and an issue, something that the officials brought up in the news conference, saying talking about Tren de Aragua was taboo.
