HEAVILY-ARMED New York law enforcement officers have arrested the ringleader of a vicious Venezuelan gang with criminal links to Trinidad and Tobago.
Anderson Zambrano-Pacheco was held by Homeland Security Investigations and Drug Enforcement Agency officers in The Bronx amid a major crackdown.
Zambrano-Pacheco, 26, is reported to be the mastermind behind the notorious Tren de Aragua gang, which has committed ghastly crimes in T&T, the US and several South American countries.
Reports state that the gangsters entered T&T illegally over several years and carried out killings, kidnappings, carjackings, home invasions and other major crimes.
No gang member has ever been held in T&T.
Zambrano-Pacheco was arrested at the start of US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Ten members of the transnational gang were later held and charged for a total of 120 offences, including gun trafficking, criminal sale of firearms and associated crimes.
The police reportedly recovered 34 guns and 48 grams of cocaine.
Newly-appointed Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem oversaw what she called “getting the dirty bags off the streets in New York City.”
Zambrano-Pacheco was wanted in connection with drug trafficking, abduction, burglary and other crimes in New York and Aurora, Colorado.
US authorities said an armed Zambrano-Pacheco was seen in a security video last August breaking into a home in Aurora.
Five other armed men were involved in the burglary.
Police killed one, 25-year-old Oswaldo Jose Dabion Araujo.
Aurora media reported that Tren de Aragua gangsters had taken over several apartments in the city of 400,000 people and carried a number of brutal crimes.
In New York, the criminals were associated with a string of felonies.
Following the arrest of Zambrano-Pacheco, The Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres said: “I strongly favour surgically removing violent criminals, especially gang leaders.”
On his first day on the job, President Trump designated Tren de Aragua as an international terrorist organisation.
Despite intelligence reports on the gangsters, T&T police did not stop their regular illegal entry.
Apart from criminals, the US authorities are also rounding up illegal immigrants, leading to fears by several undocumented T&T nationals.
More than 4,000 people were held in four days.
Caribbean immigration consultants in New York have advised people not to “sell out” illegal migrants to the authorities.
Diplomats have advised regional governments to prepare for deportations, which could disrupt the social system in each country.
The US crackdown is continuing.
