Police arrested the most wanted drug lord in Peru, Gerson Galvez, in a restaurant in Medelllin, western Colombia last Saturday. Colombian authorities deported Galvez the next day to Peru. Galvez is alleged of 101 murders in Peru.
Galvez, also nicknamed Caracol which means "snail," received an arrest warrant since last December. He was one of the most feared drug lord in the region, a Latin America equivalent to notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. According to Peru Report, Galvez was arrested with a false Ecuadorean passport.
Prior to his arrest, authorities had acknowledged of his arrriving in Ecuador in March. He then stopped in Panama before going to Medellin. He also grew his hair and beard in order to change his appearance. President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos celebrated the captivity of the crime lord, and Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas also applauded the police force.
"I congratulate our national police for this important capture. Peruvian Interior Minister Guadalupe Perez contacted me to thank the police for their work in capturing this delinquent," said Minister Villegas.
According to Deutsche Welle, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) described Galvez as Latin America's new El Chapo. Peru, on the other hand, is recorded as one of the world largest cocaine producers and cultivator of the coca, as per US State Department report.
"Peru remained the world's top producer of cocaine and was the second-largest cultivator of coca, with an estimated 59,500 hectares of coca under cultivation in 2013," the report said.
Prior to his arrest, the most wanted Mexican drug lord who went by nickname El Chapo, Joaquin Guzman was arrested in in January this year. Mexican Marine arrested El Chapo Guzman in Sierra Madre mountain in western Mexico after a a heavy gun fight which killed five of Guzman's bodyguard and wounded one Marine.
Gerson Galvez's gang is believed to have controlled drugs smuggling operation in the seaport of Callao, the port district of Lima. Police also said that Galvez's organization also used the port to control construction unions, in order to charge extortion payments from real estate developers in Callao.
TeleSUR reported that he is also wanted for the attempted murder of a rival in Peru. His rival drug lord, Gerald Oropeza, was attacked by armed men with a gunfire and grenade in the evening on April 1. He survived the attack while he was riding his Porsche SUV in a Pueblo Libre major avenue.
Now, Gerson Galvez, the most wanted drug lord in Peru, has been in custody. Last Saturday, Colombian police arrested him in a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia. The authorities immediately deported Galvez to Peru on Sunday.
