The Office of the Attorney General of the Nation, through the Specialized Directorate against Criminal Organizations, and in coordination with the National Police, exposed three criminal networks that would be part of an illegal network involved in the extraction, refining, commercialization and transport of hydrocarbons.
Initially, in Girón and Barrancabermeja (Santander), five alleged members of an organization accused of seizing crude oil by installing valves to the Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline in Tibú (Norte de Santander) were captured; and coordinate the transfer in tanker vehicles, which transited with guides and false cargo manifests.
Among the detainees is Albaneris Pérez Garavis, alias La Patrona or La Mona, who would be in charge of financing all illegal activity and providing large sums of money to the ELN structures that interfere in the region. The rest are drivers who would be involved in different events in which they took stolen fuel from Norte de Santander to Cundinamarca and other departments of the country.
These five people, according to the possible role played, were charged with the crimes of conspiracy to commit an aggravated crime; seizure of hydrocarbons, their derivatives, biofuels or mixtures that contain them; and reception. Additionally, alias La Mona was charged with the crime of financing terrorism and organized crime groups and managing resources related to terrorist activities and organized crime.
All the defendants received an insurance measure in a prison.
business component
Another of the links in the criminal chain is made up of several companies that, from 2021 until mid-May last, would have used legal status, permits granted by the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of the Environment and the chambers of commerce to create and maintain commercial activities related to the installation of crude oil extraction platforms, the development of storage and refining systems, and the commercialization of hydrocarbons.
According to the evidence, these companies would have close ties with the other criminal networks and, apparently, they served to give the appearance of legality to the fuel obtained irregularly from the Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline, process it and place it on the Caribbean coast to market it.
For these facts, three people were brought before guarantee control judges and charged, depending on their possible participation, for the crimes of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, reception of hydrocarbons and falsification of private documents.
Those investigated are:
· Omar Enrique Morales Bobadilla, financial director of an oil company accused of preparing chemical mixtures so that the stolen hydrocarbon would be suitable for commercialization.
· Maira Janeth Medina Flórez, legal representative of a company that allegedly issued documentation with false information to support the transfer of fuel.
· Catalina Quintero Rincón, who would be in charge of administering and managing permits, and processing the documentation before the state authorities to acquire chemicals in order to carry out the transformation of the crude for its subsequent commercialization.
logistic apparatus
Finally, six people were captured who would be part of an organization that is credited with issuing false documents, storing and transporting hydrocarbons illegally extracted from the Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline, in the shipyard sector, in the vicinity of Cucuta (North Santander).
The investigation indicates that this group would have intervened in the transfer lines of the oil exploitation and extraction wells. Then, through tanker vehicles, they sent the fuel to collection centers in Ocaña (Norte de Santander), Aguachica (Cesar), Barrancabermeja (Santander) and Madrid (Cundinamarca).
The Prosecutor’s Office charged the six captured, according to their possible participation, with the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime, use of a false document; and reception of hydrocarbons, their derivatives, biofuels or mixtures that contain them.
The defendants are:
Catalina Quintero, administrator of an asphalt plant in Barrancabermeja (Santander) accused of facilitating the acquisition and storage of crude oil; Flor Mary Triviño Yopasa, owner and administrator of a parking lot where the stolen hydrocarbon was loaded; John Alejandro Acosta Chacón, alleged logistics coordinator; Luis Andelfo Contreras, would be involved in obtaining false cargo manifests to cover the transportation of fuel; and José Javier Ocampo San Juan and Elkin Orlando Gómez Álvarez, conductors.
Blow to the illicit patrimony
Simultaneously to the criminal process, the Specialized Directorate for the Extinction of Domain Rights, in coordination with the DIJIN of the National Police, seized 101 properties that would be part of the illegal patrimony of some of the alleged members of the illegal scaffolding of seizure and commercialization of hydrocarbons.
These are 9 rural and 15 urban properties; 37 vehicles, 7 ships, 18 companies and 15 commercial establishments, which were affected with precautionary measures of suspension of dispositive power, embargo, kidnapping and takeover.
The properties, valued at more than 1.3 trillion pesos, are located in Barranquilla and Galapa (Atlántico); Chivatá (Boyacá), Cartagena (Bolívar); Flanders, Espinal and Lérida (Tolima); Chia and Madrid (Cundinamarca); Barrancabermeja and Bucaramanga (Santander), Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca) and Bogotá. The Special Assets Company (SAE) will be in charge of managing these assets.
Source: Attorney General’s Office