Police raids target first Spanish cell of ‘Tren de Aragua’ crime ring

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MADRID (Reuters) -Police said on Friday they had arrested 13 people accused of belonging to the first cell of Venezuela’s “Tren de Aragua” crime gang detected in Spain, following raids in five cities.

Tren de Aragua, originally formed in Venezuelan prisons, has grown into one of Latin America’s most violent transnational criminal networks, linked to drugs, human trafficking and extortion.

The United States this year designated it as a global terrorist organisation, citing its reach beyond the region.

Police said the arrests took place in Barcelona, Madrid, Girona, A Coruna and Valencia in an investigation into the group’s alleged efforts to expand its operations into Spain, where Venezuelans make up one of the largest immigrant communities.

Officers seized synthetic drugs, cocaine, a marijuana plantation and two laboratories producing “tusi”, also known as pink cocaine, a substance the gang is known to traffic.

The operation follows a 2024 arrest in Barcelona of the alleged gang leader’s brother, who was accused of trying to expand the group into Spain.

(Reporting by Jesus Calero, editing by Andrei Khalip and Alex Richardson)