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Thirty alleged members and leaders of Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Venezuelan gang designated as a foreign terrorist group, were indicted in Colorado on charges including murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, and firearms offenses.
The gang has been tied to murder, extortion, kidnapping, and drug and human trafficking.
Several TdA members are accused of unlawfully entering the U.S. and introducing its gang violence to communities across America, including those in Colorado.
“These defendants include Tren de Aragua leaders, members, and associates,” U.S. Attorney for Colorado Peter McNeilly said during a press conference on Monday. “The charges include firearms trafficking, drug trafficking, and a barbaric murder for hire plot in which several of the defendants agreed to kill two people for $15,000 and return their severed heads as proof of the murders for just an extra $5,000.”
Both men were arrested by Colombian authorities in Colombia on July 30 after the U.S. issued a provisional arrest warrant based on charges in the case.
Uribe-Torrealba and Henriquez-Charaima remain in custody in Colombia pending extradition proceedings.
Of the 28 others indicted, 24 are in federal custody.
“Each one of those 69 guns represents the saving of a life. Each ounce of narcotics taken off the street represents a life saved,” Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown said. “This community has seen a 75% reduction in calls for service… That is life-changing for the people in this community.”
Surveillance video from 2023 went viral after it showed heavily armed men kicking down an apartment door in Aurora, Colorado. It purportedly showed alleged members of Tren de Aragua who had reportedly taken over apartment buildings in the city and were extorting residents for protection payments.
The video catapulted TdA into the spotlight of the 2024 presidential campaign, with Republican nominee former President Trump vowing to “liberate Aurora” from illegal alien criminals he claimed were “taking over the whole town.”
Aurora police have called allegations that gangs had “taken over” buildings in the city an exaggeration, although they have acknowledged the presence of TdA in the community.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, previously dismissed outrage over a video that appeared to show armed Venezuelan gang members taking over an apartment building.
In a statement shared with the New York Post in August 2024, Polis’ spokeswoman Shelby Wieman claimed, “The Governor has already let the Mayor know that the State is ready to support the local police department with assistance from state troopers and the Colorado Bureau of Investigation if needed.”
“But, according to police intelligence, this purported invasion is largely a feature of Danielle Jurinsky’s imagination,” added Wieman, referring to an Aurora City Council member who had spoken out about the TdA issue.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Polis for comment on the indictment.