In a high-precision operation carried out in the early hours of today, agents from the Criminal Investigation Directorate and Interpol (Dijin) managed to capture Marlon Valencia, accused of being the leader of the Ecuadorian criminal organization ‘Los Tiguerones’.
The arrest occurred in a residential area of the municipality of La Estrella, south of the Aburrá Valley, where the alleged criminal tried to go unnoticed under a façade of family normality.
A hidden life in Antioquia
According to the authorities’ report, Valencia had been residing in an urbanization in La Estrella for approximately seven months. There he lived with his wife, a Colombian citizen, and a baby of approximately one year old, the result of their relationship.
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To evade the red notice that was against him and move freely throughout the national territory, Valencia used a fraudulent identity. He called himself “Ezequiel” and carried an original Colombian citizenship card, formally issued by the National Registry, a fact that is now the subject of an internal investigation to determine how he obtained legitimate documentation with false data.
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Medellin City
Links with the Gulf Clan
Beyond seeking refuge, Valencia’s presence in Antioquia would have strategic purposes for organized crime.
One of the main hypotheses we have is that this subject was in the region forging direct criminal alliances with the Gulf Clan, but the information remains to be confirmed.
The authorities suspect that these connections sought to strengthen drug trafficking routes and the exchange of weapons between illegal structures in Colombia and Ecuador, taking advantage of the logistical capacity of the Colombian paramilitary group.
Marlon Valencia has been placed at the disposal of the Attorney General’s Office and it is expected that in the next few hours the procedures for his eventual extradition to Ecuador will begin, where he is wanted for multiple crimes.
Attention! Feared leader of a criminal structure in Ecuador captured in La Estrella apartment