Police arrest a Tren de Aragua hitman wanted in Peru for the murder of a rival.

An alleged Venezuelan hitman, the leader of the Tren de Aragua criminal organization, has been arrested in Madrid by the National Police as part of a joint investigation with Interpol. The man, alias "Mamera," is originally from Venezuela and was a fugitive from Peruvian justice for his alleged involvement in the murder of another man in Lima in 2020.

The alleged murder was allegedly the result of a dispute between rival gangs over control of the forced prostitution business in the same area. He had an Interpol red notice against him. Following his arrest, he was taken into custody by Central Investigative Court Number Five of the National High Court, where he was ordered to be immediately imprisoned for extradition.

The Ministry of the Interior explains in a statement that "the experience of countries most affected by this phenomenon confirms this modus operandi of the Aragua Train, which consists of displacing or subduing local criminal organizations already operating in the territories where it operates, in order to gain control of the crimes committed there."

The 'Tren de Aragua' is a Venezuela-based criminal organization dedicated to illicit businesses based on danger and violence, such as extortion, contract killings, and arms and drug trafficking. It has extensive branches in countries such as Peru, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Ecuador, and even the United States, where its inclusion on the list of terrorist organizations was one of the first measures of the current administration of President Donald Trump.

The National Police have arrested the Venezuelan hitman as a result of investigations conducted by the task force created specifically to combat the establishment of this criminal organization in Spain, where its presence is currently very limited.