Colombian police arrest gang bosses at "summit"

Police forces arriving in helicopters bust a meeting of criminal bosses on an estate in western Colombia on 9 November, arresting 27 leading members including the two chiefs of Los Rastrojos, a gang involved in drug trafficking, extortion and murders, EFE reported on 11 November. Members of this gang recently gunned down 10 farm workers, apparently for their employer's failure to pay protection money. The gangsters were meeting outside the town of La Virginia in the Risaralda department to discuss strategies in south-western Colombia, EFE cited Colombia's police chief José Roberto León as saying. The detained included Nelson Mauricio Taborda or Mascota (Pet), who led the Rastrojos following the arrest last July of their chief Diego Pérez Henao, and his deputy dubbed Picante (Spicy), whom the police chief described as "extremely dangerous." He said Picante was thought involved in several murders that included brutal methods like the dismemberment of victims, a practice apparently learned from unspecified Mexican cartels. The gang's chiefs for seven or eight departments of Colombia were reportedly among the 27 held, EFE and El Espectador reported.  The daily cited President Juan Manuel Santos as saying on 10 November that the state had ever-improving intelligence on the workings of such gangs and would keep arresting new leaders "as they emerge."