‘We Are Coming for You’: Texas Law Enforcement Raid Building Used as Base by Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua, Make 20 Arrests

 

Two of the 20 arrested suspects in San Antonio Apartment Complex (c) News4 San Antonio

Texas has taken the fight to the dangerous transnational gang Tren de Aragua, and Law Enforcement is warning that this is just the start of a broad campaign.

Texas cops raided a vacant San Antonio building reportedly under the ‘control’ of the notorious Venezuelan gang and used it as a base for crime.

A multi-agency task force was assembled for this operation.

In a pre-dawn raid yesterday (5), cops cleared more than 300 vacant units at the Palatia Apartments on North San Antonio, San Antonio Police Chief William McManus has stated.

Chief McManus said that the operation took place after SAPD received several complaints from the apartment complex regarding narcotics, human trafficking and threats to building personnel.

The New York Post reported:

“’We had information that members of the transnational gang Tren de Agua were in control of the area and committing various crimes’, McManus said.

Twenty people were arrested, four who are confirmed Tren de Agua members — including one person who is an ‘enforcer’, he said. Nineteen of those detained were charged. Several of those arrested had confirmed warrants, officials said.”

 

This raid was the result of a weeks-long investigation, part of SAPD’s “Operation Aurora” initiative, which in turn is being executed within the context of a broader effort to disrupt Tren de Aragua’s influence in Texas.

“The apartments were searched by a joint team of officers from SAPD, Texas Department of Public Safety, Federal Bureau of Investigation and US Customs and Border Protection, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security Investigations.”

In San Antonio, the Tren de Aragua gang is allegedly involved in prostitution, cocaine trafficking, and other violent crimes.

Chief McManus said Saturday that the gang has been operating in the area for several months and that they have identifying tattoos.

“’We assure the community and members of the public that we are committed to their safety and on top of this [Tren de Aragua] issue that seems to have gone very public lately’, McManus said.

Saturday’s bust was law enforcement’s first takedown of a known gang location, but the chief said ‘We have other places we are going to hit. We are onto you’, he told the gang members. ‘We are coming for you and we know where you are’.”