Relatives of prisoners formed a dangerous gang of extortionists
Extortion in Colombia has become one of the biggest scourges suffered by both merchants and ordinary citizens. As reported by the Ministry of Defense, so far in 2023 574 people have been captured for this crime, and among them 11 captured who They were part of ‘Los Legendarios’, a band made up of relatives of inmates from different prisons in the country.
The capture occurred thanks to an operation led by the Gaula of the National Police against aggravated extortion. Same that allowed the individualization and capture of 11 people with family ties to prisoners from different prisons in Ibagué, Armenia, Bogotá, and Neiva.
“The criminal group ‘Legendary’ committed crimes under the command of alias ‘La Mama’. Who was alias ‘the mom’? She is the sentimental partner of two people deprived of liberty: His sentimental partner and his son,” explained Colonel Giovanni Cristancho, Director of Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Extortion of the National Police.
It was this woman who recruited more than a dozen people (9 men and 2 women) to terrorize merchants who were forced to pay millions of dollars through deception.
Modus operandi of ‘The Legendaries’
Among the victims of “Los legendary” the case of a woman who would have paid up to 5 million pesos who was falsely accused of bribing a public servant was known. Reason for which she demanded money so as not to take legal action against her.
According to her account, the criminals contacted her posing as National Police uniforms to demand a first payment of $500,000 pesos to which she agreed. After her, another supposed uniformed officer from the Institution communicated with her, although with a higher rank, who, due to the first payment, accused her of bribery and demanded other payments in exchange for not reporting the case and proceeding with a crime that in Colombia can mean a sentence of between 64 to 126 months in prison.
As reported by the Ministry of Defense, currently The departments with the most cases of extortion in Colombia are: Antioquia, Cundinamarca, Meta, Atlántico, Chocó and Valle, same in which the National Police would already have identified the heads of the main gangs dedicated to this crime.