Police dismantle criminal gang 'Los bravos del sur', dedicated to vehicle theft in Lima

On the morning of April 12, agents of the DIVIAC and the special forces of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) dismantled the criminal gang 'Los Bravos del Sur', which was dedicated to the theft of vehicles and auto parts, in the district of The Augustinian.

The operation began around 2:00 a.m., when they went to the house of the leader of the band, where they arrested him. This band stole at least 50 vehicles in 2019.

The criminals' modus operandi included theft, breaking their badges and defusing their alarms, and then extorting victims. In case they did not meet their claims to return the car, they dismantled them. In the place was even found the car, with a taxi facade, which they used to “book” their victims.

In addition to the alleged leader of 'The Braves of the South', they captured another 12 members. Four vehicles were also found, one recently dismantled, and dozens of cell phones.

Authorities reported that 18 points have intervened in the capital. Shops in the area known as San Jacinto and a cell in the Lurigancho prison were also part of the raid.

The head of DEVIAC, Colonel Franco Moreno, reported that they found 39 property cards, of the victims, and S/39 thousand soles. They also found evidence of the dismantling of the cars.

Two precincts were also raided, one in Manchay and the other in Huachipa.

CRIMINAL GANGS IN EL AGUSTINO AND LIMA CHARGE QUOTAS

On March 5, after a couple of weeks of the murder of two foreigners in downtown Lima, a hit man murdered 19-year-old Colombian Yicel Alexandra Villamaria Calanca years, at the height of Puente Nuevo, in the district of El Agustino.

The young woman was a sex worker and would have refused to pay space to foreign 'sex mafias', a group of Colombian and Venezuelan criminals. Witnesses commented that a man of medium height who was near the area approached the woman and shot her. Apparently, the murderer would have been looking for her, as she had recently returned from Colombia a few weeks ago.

“She was already receiving threats as were all the girls who work here. They wanted to charge him 100 to 200 soles. We don't understand why these guys haven't been arrested. She didn't want to pay the quotas,” a friend of the victim told La República.

Police officers from the Santoyo Police Station arrived at the scene of the crime to encircle the scene of the murder. As the friend of the Colombian woman said, the investigation points to a settling of accounts for the collection of quotas to sex workers, said the commander of the Dipincri of El Agustino.

“There are cameras here. We want them to catch the culprit, because if they keep it up, they're gonna kill all the girls. The police were in the area, but they couldn't do anything. Her companions (from Yicel) were killed a month ago,” Castro added.

It is recalled that a few weeks ago there was also an attack on three sex workers in El Agustino. The women fled to a toy store on the same street, but one of them was injured.

These so-called 'sex mafias' are made up of Colombian and Venezuelan pimps who are spreading terror in various districts such as El Agustino, Cercado de Lima, Lince and San Martín de Porres by threatening to ask sex workers for quotas to stay in that place.

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