'Los Yuca', a network of counterfeiting Colombian dollars and pesos fell in Bogotá

The Attorney General's Office reported on the morning of Wednesday, April 6, that it dismantled a dangerous network dedicated to the counterfeiting of Colombian dollars and pesos, operating in Bogotá. After an arduous investigation, the authorities managed to capture 11 of the members of this criminal gang that placed their business in several family homes in the capital to go unnoticed.

The band called itself 'Los Yuca', and for a while it had been the target of joint work between the Attorney General's Office and the National Police, who pointed out that this band was considered one of the largest networks for counterfeiting Colombian dollars and pesos.

According to the investigating body and prosecutor, they collected all the necessary evidentiary material to demonstrate the “multiple forms of sale and fraud with national and foreign currency that the organization would have resorted to, including the impersonation of authorities and the alleged discovery of a cove with dollars”.

In several homestays located in the towns of Los Mártires, Rafael Uribe, Suba, Usme and Tunjuelito, the members of this band, according to the Prosecutor's Office, made banknotes of different denominations and sent to different cities, where the 'tickets' were sold at a lower price to merchants, transporters and other economic sectors. “There is also evidence that 'Los Yuca', allegedly, carried counterfeit dollars to the border area with Ecuador and handed them over to liaisons that were responsible for introducing and circulating them in the financial system of that country,” the investigating body's statement reads.

But this is not all, the Prosecutor's Office also reported that 'Los Yuca' resorted to different forms of fraud. For example, they learned that the leader of the gang was posing as a member of the security forces or INPEC, after which he called many people from different regions of the country and offered them tickets at a very low price, noting that they had been found in a cove by the authorities.

In these cases, the Prosecutor's Office detailed that the victims who believed in these offers gave their savings and in return received counterfeit bills.

Precisely, one of the most important captures in this operation was that of Franking Peña Garzón, alias El Capi, who was designated as the leader of the criminal organization. “In charge of managing two buildings where national and foreign currency was counterfeited through the use of stencils, inks, fabrics, printing and other elements,” the entity added in the official statement.

In addition, this man's romantic partner, Angie Carolina Carvajal Castro, was also captured because she allegedly 'made up' and improved the appearance of banknotes. In this way, they also linked Helberth Yesid Sánchez Sotelo to the process of linking and subsequent indictment of charges, who was notified in prison and identified by the authorities as another of the alleged articulators of the structure.

On the other hand, they reported that “in the proceedings 143'682,000 Colombian pesos and 57,621 false dollars were seized. In addition, INPEC and military garments, stamps, machinery and other items were found.”

In the middle of the proceedings, a prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate Against Criminal Organizations charged 'Los Yuca' with the crimes of: counterfeiting national or foreign currency, trafficking in counterfeit currency and a concert to commit crimes. For his part, a guarantee control judge stated that the defendants must be under custodial assurance measures while the case against them progresses and their future judicial proceedings are determined.

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