This is the file of ‘Los Pinchallantas’, the gang that detained, tortured, and robbed families at the entrances and exits of Bogotá

For nearly two years, a gang turned entry and exit corridors of Bogotá into ambush scenes. At night or early morning, they damaged travelers’ tires and waited for the vehicle to stop. Then armed men appeared who beat and detained the occupants to steal even the money from their accounts.

The Traffic and Transportation Directorate followed the trail of the structure known as ‘Los Pinchallantas’. The investigation attributes nine incidents, 21 victims, and losses close to 750 million pesos to them. Eleven alleged members were captured during 12 raids in Bogotá and Soacha.

One of the most violent episodes occurred at the end of April 2026, near the Mondoñedo toll booth. A family traveling to Bogotá stopped when a tire of their SUV was punctured. The driver, his wife, and a son got out to change it before the rain increased.

In seconds, six men on motorcycles surrounded the vehicle. They took advantage of the darkness and isolation to intercept the family. They beat them inside the SUV and, under threats, took them to an excavation area in Soacha.

Seven people, including two minors and two elderly women, were subjected to mud, cold, and rain. The attackers took their shoes, tied them up, and held them for about seven hours. The beatings, insults, and threats continued without them being able to escape.

The criminals checked cell phones and banking apps. They tried to unlock the devices using facial recognition and demanded passwords to make transfers. Some women were hit in the face and head with the phones when, due to shock, they could not remember the passwords.

The detention lasted until around four in the morning. Several showed symptoms of hypothermia; an elderly woman suffered an arm injury and an eight-year-old girl, according to her relatives, was left in a state of mutism. The SUV was found abandoned in Soacha.

“We felt fear, helplessness, and great anguish. We were beaten, mistreated, and humiliated,” recounted a victim. For the mother, the worst was seeing her terrified children without being able to protect them. Since that night, traveling by road was no longer the same.

The case was not isolated. On May 3, the detention of at least 15 people and the theft of three vehicles on a rural road between Soacha and La Mesa became known. Governor Jorge Emilio Rey warned that the criminals moved to rural areas to evade controls on the main road.

The background showed a very clear method. According to the Police, the gang operated on the La Mesa–Bogotá, Bogotá–Villavicencio, and Bogotá–Tunja roads. Its members threw nails and tacks or used tubes with points to damage tires and force stops.

They preferred wooded, lonely, and dark stretches. When the driver checked the damage, they intimidated the occupants with firearms. Then, they took them to remote places, immobilized them, and took their belongings; sometimes they also took the vehicle.

The robbery continued with cards, digital wallets, and financial apps. “They were so shameless that they even used card readers,” said Rey. According to the governor, they forced people to enter passwords, transferred the money, and then withdrew it.

The method, schedules, and corridors allowed Traffic and Transportation to link the complaints. With intelligence information, the Judicial Police reconstructed the operation and identified the roles and participation of each alleged member.

For months, investigators intercepted communications, received sworn statements, and conducted photo identifications. This way, they identified 11 people and a possible connection with another structure dedicated to stealing cargo vehicles and assaulting transporters.

The evidence was presented before a judge, who issued arrest warrants. The operational phase included 12 search and raid procedures in Bogotá and Soacha, with judicial, police, and military units.

Four card readers, an SUV, a traumatic weapon, 16 cell phones, and pointed tubes allegedly used to puncture vehicles were seized. They also found zip ties that, according to the investigation, were used to immobilize the victims.

The Mechanized Cavalry Group No. 10 Tequendama of the Army, the Sijín, the COPES of the Police, the National Directorate against Organized Crime of the Prosecutor’s Office, and the CTI Cundinamarca participated.

The detainees will have to answer for aggravated extortionate kidnapping, simple kidnapping, conspiracy to commit a crime, qualified and aggravated theft, and trafficking, manufacturing, and carrying firearms. The justice system will determine their responsibility.

“We have dismantled the criminal gang ‘Los Pinchallantas’,” announced Governor Rey when delivering the report. The investigations did not end with arrests: authorities seek to establish the total number of attacks and victims and verify if some of the prosecuted participated in recent cases on the North Highway under a similar method.

The deployment was part of the operation ‘Escudo de La Sabana’, which also struck ‘Los Rápidos’. This second structure, made up of six people, used an ambulance to simulate accidents on the Mosquera–Girardot corridor and assault with weapons those who stopped to help.

The investigation against ‘Los Rápidos’ began after the assault on a vehicle transporting 20 tons of technological items, valued at about 2 billion pesos, on November 12, 2025. The reaction of the Traffic Police allowed the recovery of the vehicle and all the merchandise.

Five raids coordinated with the Specialized Structure and Support Prosecutor’s Office 4 allowed the capture of its six members, who were in prison centers. Two cargo vehicles and the ambulance allegedly used in the assaults were seized. Thus, the joint result of ‘Escudo de La Sabana’ reached 17 arrests.

For those who survived the ambushes, the arrests do not erase what happened. “They lent us a hand, took this case as their own, and fought for many months,” said another victim about the investigators. The mother attacked in April summed up the scope of the result: knowing they were not forgotten and that their case was not left unpunished.

CAROL MALAVER

DEPUTY EDITOR BOGOTÁ

Write to us at carmal@eltiempo.com