NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — A man on Colombian National Police's Most Wanted list was arrested Tuesday in New Braunfels, as part of a joint operation involving Homeland Security San Antonio agents as well as local and state authorities.
Authorities accuse Aderbis Segundo Pirela, 29, of being second-in-command for the Colombian criminal gang Los Satanás, which has plagued several areas of Bogotá with extortion and murdering people who do not pay their demands, according to CBS News.
"[Pirela's] role within these organizations was to distribute pamphlets, collect extortion and when they did not pay it, he obviously threatened or made an attack against the victims or their relatives," said Leonor Merchán Lopera, sectional director of the Bogotá Prosecutor's Office.
In order to evade law enforcement capture in Colombia, General José Daniel Gualdrón, commander of the Bogotá Metropolitan Police, said Pirela fled through Central America and Mexico.
"The brazenness of this criminal had no limits, as it was evident that being in the migratory zone, on the border of Mexico and the United States, he continued to extort the merchants of Bogota," Gualdrón said.
The commander added that Pirela was going to migration areas asking for political asylum.
Bogotá Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán called on the national government to seek justice for Pirela once he's brought back to Colombia so that he "does not continue to commit crimes from prison like Satan."
"It is necessary to guarantee that they do not continue to commit crimes from prison because that eventually generates what we are seeing here," Galán said. "It is a call that I take this opportunity to ratify to the national government, because it is very important that those criminals who with the effort extraordinary measures that are being made of the authorities in charge of capturing and prosecuting them, do not continue to commit crimes from prison."
U.S. security agencies are working with Colombia authorities to hand Pirela over.
Below is a statement from ICE about Pirela:
“Adelbis Segundo Pirela-Pirela, a 29-old citizen of Venezuela, first entered the United States on Jan. 2, near Eagle Pass, Texas unlawfully. On that same day, U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) arrested Pierla near El Paso, TX and issued him a notice to appear.
On Jan. 5, USBP issued Pirela an order of recognizance and release him from custody.
On March 12, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Antonio arrested Pirela and transferred him to ICE custody in San Antonio at the South Texas ICE Processing Center, pending the outcome of his immigration case.
Pirela is wanted by Colombian law enforcement authorities for allegation of homicide, extortion and drug trafficking – photo on ’10 Most Wanted’ poster.”
This is a developing story.