Colombia Arrests 5 Gulf Clan Suspects, 1 Wanted by US

SECURITY · COLOMBIA

Colombian authorities have detained five alleged members of the Gulf Clan, the country’s largest drug-trafficking group, in Antioquia and Chocó. President Abelardo De la Espriella announced the arrests on X on Sunday 11 October.

Four suspects are accused of taking part in the killing of two police officers in Betulia, Antioquia, last year. The fifth, known as Niño Potro, is wanted by a federal court in Texas for drug trafficking, which gives the case a direct US link.

The Gulf Clan calls itself the Ejército Gaitanista de Colombia (EGC) and is known in Spanish as the Clan del Golfo. The US State Department designated it a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2025.

De la Espriella is a conservative lawyer who took office in August. He has promised a hard line on armed groups, and he framed Sunday’s arrests as part of an offensive against the organisation.

Who Was Arrested and Why

According to the president’s post, reported by El Heraldo and Infobae, the four were detained in Santa Fe de Antioquia and Betulia, two towns north-west and south-west of Medellín.

They are said to belong to the Edwin Román Velásquez Valle sub-structure, one of the group’s regional units. Authorities identified them only by aliases: “Caliche”, described as a coordinator of hitmen, and “Pachito”, “Valeria” and “Lina”.

“These bandits took part in the attack in Betulia where subintendentes Wilmer Ovidio Gallego Sepúlveda and Edwin Danilo Chamorro Bastida died,” De la Espriella wrote, according to El Heraldo. A subintendente is a junior non-commissioned rank in Colombia’s National Police.

The two officers were shot during a patrol in Altamira, a rural district of Betulia, in November 2025, according to the regional paper Periódico El Suroeste. The paper reported that the Clan del Golfo was active in the area. So was a unit of the 34th Front, made up of former FARC rebels who rejected the 2016 peace deal.

The suspects have not been formally charged in public, and the allegations have not been tested in court. They are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The arrests follow a run of attacks on Colombia’s security forces this month, including a Colombia Truck Bomb Targets Army Base on 8 October.

The US Extradition Case

The fifth suspect is Yovanys Chaverra Vargas, alias Niño Potro. He was arrested on a street in Nuquí, a small town on Chocó’s Pacific coast, in an operation by the Fiscalía, Colombia’s attorney general’s office, and the National Police, Caracol Radio reported on Friday 9 October.

Semana and El Heraldo say the operation was coordinated with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The police criminal investigation directorate, known as Dijín, took part. Semana describes Chaverra as a “high-value target” for the DEA.

Caracol Radio says the arrest warrant for extradition was issued by the US federal court for the Eastern District of Texas. Semana and El Heraldo report the charges as conspiracy and drug trafficking.

Police allege that his network moved about two tonnes of cocaine hydrochloride a month. According to Caracol Radio, the loads left in speedboats and small craft from the Urabá region and the Chocó side of the Darién, bound for Central America and then the United States.

Investigators say he worked with the Gulf Clan’s Efrén Vargas Gutiérrez sub-structure under an outsourcing model: his network allegedly used the group’s logistics and territorial control to move loads without sitting in its chain of command. Police also describe him as a trusted associate of alias Mono Esguey, another trafficker wanted for extradition.

Chaverra is now in the custody of the Fiscalía’s international affairs unit while the extradition paperwork is processed. Under Colombian law, the Supreme Court’s criminal chamber must give an opinion on a US request before the president makes the final decision.

Large seizures continue alongside the arrests. Police recently reported the haul behind Colombia Cocaine Seizure Hits 1,042 Kilos on Meta River.

What It Means for You

For US readers, the main point is the extradition request. If Colombia approves it, Niño Potro would be tried in Texas, adding to a long list of Colombian traffickers sent to US courts.

The terrorism designation also matters. Since December 2025, US persons who knowingly give material support to the group risk federal charges. That raises compliance stakes for companies working in its areas.

For travellers, Medellín, Cartagena and the main tourist routes are not where these arrests took place. Rural Antioquia and much of Chocó carry higher risk. Visitors should check the US State Department’s travel advisory for Colombia before any trip off the main routes.

The arrests also bring some relief for police families in Antioquia, where officers have been frequent targets of armed groups.

What Is Not Known

The full names of the four detained in Antioquia have not been released, and it is not clear what charges prosecutors will bring or when they will appear before a judge.

Authorities have not said how many people took part in the Betulia attack, or whether others are still being sought.

In the US case, the indictment has not been made public, and the exact counts against Chaverra could not be independently confirmed. There is no date yet for a Supreme Court opinion on his extradition.

It is also unclear how much the arrests will dent the organisation’s operations. The group has replaced detained leaders quickly in the past.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is alias Niño Potro?

Yovanys Chaverra Vargas, a man Colombian police describe as a Gulf Clan ally who coordinated cocaine shipments from the Urabá and Darién coasts. A federal court in Texas has requested his extradition on drug-trafficking charges.

Why were four people arrested in Antioquia?

President Abelardo De la Espriella said the four Gulf Clan suspects took part in the November 2025 attack in Betulia that killed two police officers. They have not yet been tried and are presumed innocent.

Is the Gulf Clan a US-designated terrorist group?

Yes. The US State Department designated the Gulf Clan, also called the Clan del Golfo or EGC, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in December 2025.

Sources: President Abelardo De la Espriella on X, 11 October 2026, as reported by El Heraldo and Infobae; Caracol Radio; Semana; Minuto30; Periódico El Suroeste; US State Department, Terrorist Designations of Clan del Golfo, 16 December 2025.

This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief

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