The National Police have arrested in Madrid a prominent member of the violent gang ‘Barrio 18 Gang’ who was wanted by the authorities of El Salvador for crimes of homicide and extortion.
This is the fifth arrest in Spain of members of Salvadoran gangs in just two months. Last March, the Police arrested in Barajas a member of the ‘Salvatrucha’ gang accused in his country of two murders, and in February they arrested three other leaders of the ‘Barrio 18 Gang’ who operated in the Barcelona district of Nou Barris and in Hospitalet de Llobregat.
Police sources have detailed to Efe that the last detainee is a 25-year-old young man who, according to investigations, had resided in Spain since 2018. He was arrested this Tuesday in Madrid.
After being placed at the disposal of the Central Court of Instruction number 4 of the National Court, on guard duty, the detainee entered prison for a possible extradition interested by El Salvador, a country that claimed him for homicide and that had issued an International Order of Detention (OID).
According to the General Police Department, staff from the UDYCO Central Fugitive Location Group and the General Information Commission carried out the arrest.
Both units have created synergies to prevent elements that have fled from the countries where these organizations have full implementation from establishing structures similar to what they have been doing in their places of origin.
The ‘Barrio 18 Gang’, also known as ‘Calle 18’ or simply ‘La 18’, is a transnational criminal organization that, after its genesis in the suburbs of Los Angeles, expanded throughout the countries of the so-called Triangle of Central America (Guatemala , Honduras and El Salvador), creating a scenario of authentic war, mainly against the rival gang ‘Mara Salvatrucha’ or ‘MS13’.
