Aragua Trains in the United States | Diego Jose Ibarra Arrested in Georgia for Associated with Venezuelan Criminal Gang University of Georgia | Laken Riley | UGA | History of the Aragua Train | the world

Venezuelan Diego Ibarra was arrested in February for presenting a residence card to police USA Which turned out to be false. Now, the prosecutor’s office Georgia Evidence claims the man belongs to a dreaded criminal gang Aragua Trainwhich has expanded its range of operations to South American countries including Colombia, Chile and Peru and which already has a presence in the United States.

Diego Ibarra No brother Jose Antonio IbarraA 26-year-old Venezuelan national who was arrested on February 23 as a suspect in the murder of a nursing student. Laken RileyA crime that took place on campus University of Georgia (UGA).

WATCH: University of Georgia student found dead after Venezuelan immigrant arrested for crime

CNN News Network had access to documents from Georgia Prosecutor’s Office Where as proof of his belonging to Aragua Train is a series of body photographs of Diego IbarraThe 29-year-old was taken after his arrest on February 23, 2024. You can see that in the pictures He has a five-pointed crown on the left side of his neck and five-pointed stars on the right side.

The Georgia Prosecutor’s Office maintains that Those tattoos would be characteristic of members of the Aragua train.

Additionally, according to CNN, Department of Homeland Security investigators have identified various social media accounts used by Diego Ibarra In which it can be seen making the relevant symbols Aragua Train.

See: What is known about the killing of kidnapped Venezuelan soldier Ronald Ojeda in Chile

For example, there are photos everywhere you look Diego Ibarra A hand gesture in which he extends the little finger, index finger, and thumb and flexes the ring and middle fingers.

Another photo shows him posing with guns, the Georgia attorney’s office said.

On Thursday, a federal judge in Georgia Bail denied Diego IbarraAccording to documents to which the EFE agency had access.

He is charged with possession of a fraudulent document, a federal crime that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Prosecutors have also presented a series of evidence that supposedly links him to this Aragua Train.

He was arrested several times in the United States

Diego Ibarra He was arrested for presenting the police with a false US permanent resident card. Agents intervened while they were searching for a suspect in the student’s murder Laken Riley, who turned out to be his brother.

On Thursday, February 22, Laken Riley He went jogging around the campus UGA And did not return. A friend of hers contacted the police to report her missing the same day.

His body was found hours later in a wooded area of ​​UGA near Herrick Lake.

UGA Police Chief Jeff Clark said the cause of death was blunt force trauma, but did not provide further details.

Jose Antonio Ibarrawho lived near the campus in Athens, was arrested on Friday, February 23 Charges include intentional homicide, murder, aggravated battery, aggravated assault, false imprisonment, kidnapping and concealing the death of another person.

According to Telemundo Network, based on official information from immigration authorities, Jose Antonio Ibarra He entered the United States undocumented through Texas on September 8, 2022 and was arrested by immigration agents. But he was released pending the resolution of his legal process.

On September 14, 2023, Jose Ibarra According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), he was arrested by police in New York and charged with “injury to a minor under the age of 17 and a driver’s license violation.”

Jose Ibarra He was released by the NYPD before ICE issued a detainer.

then Diego Ibarra Arrested, Fox News reported that he used his fake resident card to work as a dishwasher at UGA.

Diego Ibarra According to the United States Federal Prosecutor’s Office, he entered the United States through El Paso, Texas in April of last year. During his arrest, according to CNN, he tried to bite a member of the Border Patrol who was trying to subdue him.

He was granted expedited deportation proceedings, but claimed a “credible threat of return to Venezuela”, for which he was released. A resolution pending an asylum application.

then, Diego Ibarra He was arrested several times by law enforcement officers. AthensFederal authorities reported, according to the AP agency.

In September, he was arrested for driving under the influence and driving without a license. He was arrested in October for shoplifting and in December for “failure to appear for an offense requiring fingerprinting.” He was also arrested after a woman called the emergency services She reported him for alleged domestic violence.

The Aragua train in the United States

Last Tuesday, FBI El Paso Deputy Special Agent Britain Boydpointed out that “Aragua Train It is the US. We already have evidence that they crossed the border. “They’re crossing over and there’s a presence.”

According to Diario de las Americas, the agent noted that people associated with Aragua Train It mixes with groups of migrants who ask for asylum after arriving in the United States, which is why officials are intensifying security protocols.

Boyd had already told CNN in late February that the FBI was able to confirm his presence Aragua Train in the United States through interviews with members of the criminal group After they cross the border with others settlers.

In November 2023, the United States Border Patrol confirmed to CNN that it had detained 38 people who were allegedly involved. Aragua Train.

Boyd also told CNN that federal agencies remain vigilant against the possibility Hector Rustenford Guerrero Flores, aka ‘Nino Guerrero’, reach the southern border of the United States. The culprit is its leader Aragua Train And escaped from a Venezuelan prison last year Stump.

“Our main concern is that they may organize cells in the United States, Like the cells they already have in South America,” Boyd told CNN.

Diario de las Americas recalled that some of the Venezuelans involved in the violent incidents in New York and Chicago are accused of Aragua Train.

A series of facts are included violent robbery of telephone in the city of NYWhere criminals use Moped Then grab their victims’ cell phones to flee.

“I think Venezuela is deliberately emptying its prisons And sending these people here, like (Fidel) Castro did in the eighties,” former FBI Deputy Director Chris Swacker told Fox News.

Chris Swacker compared that to what is happening on the streets Chicago And NY Since then South Florida has experienced a “crime wave”. The so-called Mariel crisisWhile Cuba allowed citizens to depart by boat to the United States via a sea bridge in the 1980s, the Fidel Castro regime forced convicted criminals into families taken in by their deported relatives.

History of the Aragua Train

He Aragua Train was born from In 2005, a union of workers working in the construction of the railway department of Venezuelawho toured the States Aragua And Carabobo; Hence its name.

The union charged for job assignments and extorted contractors in exchange for security. Later, he expanded his criminal activities. When construction was halted in 2011, the syndicate was already operating as a criminal gang, according to InsightCrime.

The megaband reached its criminal peak in 2013, after ‘Aka’Warrior Boy’ was recaptured and imprisoned in the prison of Stumpwhere he established alliances with union members.

In Tocoron, warrior He quickly climbed the prison hierarchy until he “Prana“

in jail’Warrior Boy’ He had complete control and started taking monthly payments from other inmates for gyms, swimming pools, playgrounds, restaurants, night clubs and other works inside the prison.

outside of Stumpthat Aragua Train It faced few obstacles in establishing its control and expanding its territory and criminal operations.

‘Warrior Boy’ He recruited criminal gang leaders from the San Vicente neighborhood in Marrakesh and set up a second operations center there. One of those bands, called “Flipper”, by the nickname of its leader, CANFERSON SEVILLA ARTEGAGained complete control over the neighborhood.

Thanks for joining this group, The Aragua Train Somos El Barrio managed to legally establish the JK Foundation, a front through which the organization would begin to acquire capabilities of social control over the community.

Then during the Chavista government Tarek Al Asami In Aragua, much of the state police apparatus was dismantled and San Vicente was transformed into what are known as “peace zones”, regions where the government restricted the action of security forces. Thanks to this, the Aragua train strengthened a strong base in the neighborhood.

Today the Aragua Train And groups under his command are dedicated to extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, hitmen, vehicle theft, migrant smuggling and human trafficking. Venezuela and other countries America.

According to Transparencia Venezuela, the criminal megagang has more than 4,000 members.