In first known transfer Tren de Aragua member from Colombia, DOJ brings suspected leader to US on terrorism charges

A suspected top leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua was extradited from Colombia to the United States on Thursday, marking the first known transfer of a TdA member from Colombia to face terrorism-related charges in federal court.

Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, a 24-year-old Venezuelan national known as “Chuqui,” was set to appear Friday morning before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christina Bryan in Houston federal court after arriving in Texas following a Homeland Security Task Force investigation, the Justice Department said in a press release.

CASE UPDATE from @FBIHouston: Tren de Aragua Leader Extradited on Terrorism and International Drug Distribution Charges following Homeland Security Task Force Investigation Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, aka Chuqui, alleged to be a high-ranking leader of Tren de Aragua in Bogota,… pic.twitter.com/rNwHxsOoAu

FBI Director Kash Patel on Friday called Flores the “highest-ranking” TdA leader ever to be extradited to the U.S. for prosecution, lauding President Donald Trump for his executive order that designated the Venezuelan-linked criminal gang as a foreign terrorist organization.

Federal prosecutors allege Flores was part of the inner circle of TdA leadership operating in Bogota, Colombia, overseeing a network involved in cocaine trafficking, extortion, and prostitution. The Trump administration designated TdA a foreign terrorist organization in February last year, dramatically expanding the legal tools available to pursue the gang.

According to a second superseding indictment returned by a Houston grand jury in December, Flores is charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, providing material support to TdA, and participating in an international cocaine trafficking conspiracy involving at least five kilograms of the drug intended for distribution in the U.S.

Prosecutors allege proceeds from the drug operation were used to finance Tren de Aragua’s criminal activities. If convicted, Flores faces up to life in prison and a $10 million fine.

The case also names alleged senior TdA leader Giovanni Vicente Mosquera Serrano, known as “El Viejo,” who earlier this year became the first TdA member added to the FBI’s 10 most-wanted fugitives list. Other fugitives named in the same indictment include Yohan Jose Romero and Juan Gabriel Rivas Nunez.

U.S. officials allege Mosquera Serrano helped oversee cocaine trafficking operations in Colombia intended to funnel narcotics into the United States while supporting the gang’s broader criminal enterprise. The FBI believes Mosquera Serrano may be hiding in Venezuela or Colombia and is offering a multimillion-dollar reward for information leading to his arrest.

Federal authorities describe TdA as a sprawling transnational organization involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and killings across Latin America and increasingly inside the United States.

Originating from Venezuela’s notorious Tocoron prison, the gang has become a growing focus of the Trump administration’s immigration and national security agenda.

Since January of last year, the DOJ says more than 260 alleged TdA members have been federally indicted nationwide, including recent charges against 25 TdA members this week in an operation involving more than 80 firearms and 40 pounds of narcotics.