An off-duty cop was robbed and killed, and multiple vehicles were set on fire over the last 24 hours as part of the Gulf Clan’s response to the extradition of cartel leader Dairo Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga to the United States this week.
Police officer Edison Acevedo, who was assigned to the police department in the municipality of Caracolí in the department of Antioquia, was heading home Friday morning after finishing his patrol tour when he was ambushed on a road, TeleMedellín television reported.
The network said that cops at the stationhouse asked Acevedo to stick around and not travel alone due to the dangers that persisted in the region after the Gulf Clan had announced its plans of a four-day ‘national strike’ aimed at destabilizing Antioquia as well as the departments of Bolívar, Sucre and Córdoba.
One of cartel's retaliative attacks were captured by a surveillance camera and showed the moment a male individual rode on the back of a motorcycle and opened fired at a group of people in the middle of a street in the northern department of Córdoba on Friday and murdered a young man.
The cartel has been recruiting unemployed, young men via social media applications to carry out some of the acts of vandalism that were reported, including the torching of trucks, buses, and cars.
At least 19 of them were arrested by Thursday, according to Army general Juvenal Díaz.
Police officer Edison Acevedo had finished his patrol tour Friday morning and was traveling home when he was ambushed and shot dead by thugs hired by the Gulf Cartel
A truck is set on fire in Colombia after the Gulf Cartel announced a 'armed strike' in response to the extradition of the cartel's leader, Dairo Antonio ‘Otoniel’ Úsuga to the United States, on Wednesday
A bus is set on fire in Colombia on Thursday as the Gulf Clan is carrying out four days of attacks aimed at destabilizing parts of the country where the cartel has a presence in response to the United States extradition of cartel leader Dairo Antonio Úsuga
An SUV is set on fire and blocks the middle of a road in Colombia. The country Ministry of Transportation has deployed its anti-terrorism police unit to provide security in the streets and roads
More than 50 vehicles alone were set on fire between Thursday and Friday across 30 municipalities in Antioquia and neighboring departments, where Úsuga’s cartel continues to hold a strong presence.
Several businesses in the 30 cities were forced to close their doors to the public by Thursday evening and remained shut Friday.
Authorities reported several medical facilities came under attacks from criminal gangs linked to the Gulf Clan.
An armed man sits on the back of a motorcycle and opens fire the middle of a village in Córdoba, Colombia, where a young man was killed
Authorities announced Friday the arrest of four suspects (second from the left, third from the left, middle and third from the right) who were contracted by the Gulf Clan to carry out acts of vandalism
Defense Minister Diego Molano told reporters Friday the government was activating an elite unit known as the Search Bloc to go after top-ranking cartel leaders and anyone else who they have
