Colombian authorities captured Luis Saúl Pérez Nieto, a suspected senior figure in the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua, in Bogotá on Thursday, officials said. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced that public security forces detained Pérez Nieto, also known as Páez and Nairobi, in Fontibón, a locality in western Bogotá. The National Police said the arrest followed about seven months of investigation and was carried out with the Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and Peruvian criminal investigators.

Police accounts described officers entering a residence and taking the suspect into custody at the scene. Colombian reporting placed the operation near El Dorado International Airport. De la Espriella identified Pérez Nieto as the alleged principal Tren de Aragua leader in Peru and a close associate of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Niño Guerrero, the group’s longtime leader. Guerrero Flores was killed earlier this year in a U.S. military strike in Venezuela.

Colombian police said Pérez Nieto escaped Venezuela’s Tocorón prison with him in 2023. Colombian authorities allege Pérez Nieto helped coordinate Tren de Aragua’s weapons and drug trafficking networks across the region. The president said investigators accuse him of organizing extortion, international arms trafficking, targeted killings, and narcotics trafficking along strategic corridors in South and Central America. National Police Director Maj.

Gen. Jesús Alejandro Barrera Peña said the suspect was also alleged to have coordinated arms and drug networks with reach into Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, the United States, and other countries. Police have further linked him, as an allegation, to homicides, extortion, kidnappings, and human trafficking. Colombian media, citing police sources, have also reported suspected involvement in trafficking cocaine, ketamine, and weapons from Bogotá.

Those claims have not been proven in court. Pérez Nieto has been detained and is wanted by authorities. He has not been convicted of the conduct described by officials. Tren de Aragua began in the mid 2010s as a prison gang inside Tocorón, in Venezuela’s Aragua state.

The group took its name from the region and from an unfinished railway project known locally as a “train.” After consolidating power inside the prison, it expanded outside the walls and later across Latin America, often exploiting Venezuelan migrants through extortion, smuggling, and trafficking. Cells and affiliated crews have been reported in Colombia, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, and other countries. U.S. agencies have also investigated members inside the United States.

The organization has been tied by governments to drug trafficking, arms trafficking, kidnapping, and sexual exploitation. U.S. and Latin American authorities intensified pressure on the group as it spread beyond Venezuela. The U.S. Treasury Department designated Tren de Aragua a transnational criminal organization in 2024.

The State Department designated it a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025. Several South American governments have likewise treated the group as a major public security threat because of its use of violence to seize local criminal markets. Colombian and Peruvian authorities said the United States requested Pérez Nieto’s arrest and extradition on accusations of terrorism, money laundering, drug trafficking, and criminal conspiracy. Colombian reporting cited an Aug. 25 extradition arrest order.

The U.S. government has not publicly released a detailed indictment or named the district that would prosecute the case. DEA Administrator Terry Cole congratulated de la Espriella and the Colombian National Police and described Pérez Nieto as a senior Tren de Aragua leader. U.S. Southern Command said the capture reflected closer security cooperation with Colombia.

The arrest removes a suspected regional coordinator after the death of Niño Guerrero. Tren de Aragua has also operated through local cells, so the detention does not by itself dismantle the organization. The immediate legal question is custody. Colombian courts would review any formal U.S. extradition request under Colombian law.

Peru and other countries may also seek him. Officials have not announced where he will ultimately be tried.