Gulf Clan: Captured 'Simanca' and 10 Other Extraditable

In the last few hours it became known that 24 suspected members of the Gulf Clan were captured in operations in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cali and the San Andrés archipelago.

In the operation of the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Police with support from the DEA, Alexander Simanca, alias Simanca, was captured, who would be the successor of the drug dealer 'Falcon', captured in May 2021.

In addition, among those arrested are 10 people who have been requested for extradition by courts in New York and La Florida for the shipment of about 5 tons of cocaine per month from San Andrés and Cartagena to Central America, ultimately destined for the United States and Europe.

For months, the authorities had been on the trail of Simanca, who managed to determine the movements between the Magdalena Medio and the savannah of Bogotá where his family lives.

Alexander Simanca Cabrera, alias' Simanca 'also responds to the alias 'Don José' and according to the police he had become the leader of the Gulf Clan on the Caribbean Coast and Magdalena Medio after the capture, last year, of Juan José Valencia Zuluaga, alias Falcon, and commissioned by the same alias Otoniel.

Thus, thanks to the information that came to DIJIN, it was possible to confirm Simanca's location in a luxurious residential complex in the municipality of Chia where undercover personnel tried to follow his movements for several days, but these were minimal. Simanca almost never left her residence. Even so, two movements were recorded, once to take their children to school and once to do some shopping.

However, according to the police, this changed a couple of nights ago. A vehicle as unusual as the hours in which it left the sector where Simanca lives headed towards the exit to Medellín, alerted the investigators.

The authorities' first hypothesis was that the destination of the vehicle could be the Magdalena Medio and that, if so, it was possible that the new man in front of 'Otoniel''s business was the one who was traveling there.

By giving notice to the units of the Directorate of Transit and Transport, a checkpoint could be installed near the municipality of La Vega, in Cundinamarca. That's where the drug dealer ended up falling.

In his record, the capo was part of the Heroes of the María de las Montes de las Montes de las Self-Defense Bloc, and although he demobilized on July 14, 2005, he continued to commit crimes and became the leader of the criminal gang 'Los Paisas' and was again captured on July 13, 2009, and was released in 2016, when he joined the ranks of the 'clan of the Gulf' already with a marked profile towards drug trafficking.

Where he consolidated his leadership as ringleader in Magdalena Medio after the death from covid, last year, of alias Caicedo, the trusted man of 'Otoniel' in that region of the country and came to have 250 criminals under his command.

Simanca was arrested within the framework of Operation Morgan, which took place simultaneously in Bogotá, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Santa Marta, Cali and the San Andrés archipelago, which also resulted in the capture of 23 other members of his organization.

The operation consisted of raids, searches for roofs, even at sea, where one of his accomplices tried to flee.

Of the more than 20, 14 of them had arrest warrants only from the Colombian justice system, and over them, in the last hours the judicialization was carried out. While the other 10 persons, who are requested for extradition, were notified of their capture for the purpose of sending them to another country.

The operation that allowed these arrests was carried out by the Police Dijín, with support from the United States Anti-Drug Agency (DEA).

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